


Snow and Mistletoe

by WritingForTheRevolution



Category: Hamilton - Miranda
Genre: Baking, Bonfires, Candy Canes, Christmas Decorations, Christmas Fluff, Christmas Lights, Christmas Presents, Christmas Shopping, Christmas Tree, F/F, Fluff, Hot Chocolate, I Wrote This Instead of Sleeping, Ice Skating, Implied Sexual Content, Implied/Referenced Abuse, In the Heights References, Inspired by Love Actually, M/M, Mistletoe, Pillow & Blanket Forts, Secret Santa, Shovel Talk, Sickfic, Sledding, Snow, Snow Angels, Snow Fort, Snowball Fight, Snowmen
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2017-12-01
Updated: 2017-12-23
Packaged: 2019-02-09 12:29:33
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 23
Words: 36,579
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/12887892
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/WritingForTheRevolution/pseuds/WritingForTheRevolution
Summary: 25 ficlets leading up to Christmas. All different topics but in the same universe.To include: snowball fights, aesthetic decorations, baking, Christmas songs, and general festive-ness and holiday shenanigans.





	1. First Snow

**Author's Note:**

> Surprise! I'm not dead.
> 
> I promise I'll write the next part of Shades of You soon. School happened, life happened. I procrastinate.
> 
> Anyway, here's this thing. I've wanted to do something like this for a while, a countdown to something, so... this is here now. Plus I want to be festive and I'm also trying to write something every day. I will try my best.
> 
> Mostly fluff, almost no angst, I promise. (@lavendrr_sky don't kill me, we've discussed this)
> 
> I didn't have anyone proofread this except myself because I wanted to get it up, but I don't think there are any huge mistakes. I was cringing at myself as I wrote this. I never write fluff. (Which says something about me, probably, but oh well. Enjoy.)

The apartment was near silent, the only noise coming from the gentle ticking of the clock on the wall and the light tapping of computer keys as Alex worked. The sky outside the open window was a dark, midnight blue, fluorescent streetlights shining through the glass as a chilly breeze fluttered across the bottom of the thin curtains.

It was a Friday morning, sometime around five -Alex wasn’t really paying attention to the time; he had to finish editing the opening statement for the upcoming trial- and there were already two empty coffee cups set precariously atop a pile of red pen-covered drafts on the desk next to him. It was his day off, forced onto him courtesy of his boss, but that didn’t mean Alex was going to stop working completely. This trial was way more work than it had to be, especially with the upcoming holidays, but people were stubborn.

His fingers slowed to a stop and he sat back, sifting through the stack of drafts for a moment before pulling one out to read in the dimly lit room. His eyes scanned the paper, flickering over crossed out words and skipping between sentences marked with arrows. He sighed and put it back down, running a hand through his already disheveled hair before resuming his typing.

_Ladies and gentlemen of the jury, bear with me for a moment. On the twenty fourth of March, my client was struck by a reckless driver while on her way home from her place of employment. She suffered severe injuries to her legs and back. She spent the next six months in the hospital and in rehabilitative care. Six months, ladies and gentlemen. Six months in which she was unable to work. Six months in which she was unable to do anything for herself. Six months of time she couldn’t spend with her children. Now, the defendant has already admitted he is at fault for the aforementioned incident. But that is not what we are asking you to decide. My client has suffered horrible losses, not only monetary, but emotional and social, and she deserves compensation for these losses. The amount is up to you. Throughout the duration of this trial…_

He wrote what he felt was necessary, consulting his case notes every once in awhile, adding a word here and there, and rephrasing sentences to match the tone he wanted. He knew that Washington would likely tell him to cut it down; after all, he probably wouldn’t be allowed to speak for an hour on opening statements alone, but he’d cross that bridge when he got there.

Besides, he could always ask Burr to do it. The man somehow managed to cut Alex’s extensive writing down to succinct paragraphs while still keeping its original intent. They argued over everything else, but Burr’s edits were the only ones that Alex accepted, so they made it work.

At some point, he got up to get another cup of coffee, adding two more empty mugs to the ever-growing collection piled on the desk. It was a miracle he hadn’t spilled any on his files yet. He kept typing, nearly doubling the word count as he got lost in the case, lost in the letters appearing across the screen as he crafted the perfect introduction for the jury.

He worked to the measured ticking of the clock, an odd comfort in the silence of the early morning, and occasionally sipped his coffee as he contemplated his word choice. He heard the bedroom door open, barely registering John’s light footsteps brushing across the floor until a hand rested on his shoulder. He startled, finally tearing his eyes away from his computer.

John smiled lazily down at him. “Good morning, Alex.”

Alex grabbed John’s hand before his boyfriend could move it from his shoulder, pressing a kiss to his knuckles. “Good morning, querido.”

John’s face lit up at the nickname, and he gripped Alex’s fingers tightly between his own. “How long have you been up?” he asked, his gaze falling on the numerous mugs shoved onto the corner of the desk.

“Uh…” Alex twisted his neck to glance at the clock. Nine thirty. “Since four?”

John sighed. “Geez, Alex, how do you survive on so little sleep?”

“I have a lot of passion. And coffee.”

Another sigh. “Coffee can’t replace sleep, Alex. You need to take care of yourself.”

“Who says it can’t?” Alex had dropped John’s hand, turning back to the open document on the screen. He pulled another paper from underneath the coffee cups, scanning it for a second before continuing to type. “I bet I could live on coffee.”

John snorted, gathering the empty mugs into his hands. “That’s definitely not a good idea,” he said, but Alex wasn’t paying attention, his focus instead on the seemingly endless paragraphs in front of him. Typical.

“Come on, you have to eat something,” John called over his shoulder as he walked towards the kitchen.

“Just a second!” Alex’s fingers flew across the keys, adding a few more sentences to the end of the paragraph. And a few more words to the one above it. And a little more emotion in the fourth. John was saying something from the kitchen, but Alex was focused on the tiebacks between the introduction and the rest of the paragraphs. And then a hand was pushing his fingers from the keys, saving the document, and shutting his laptop. He looked up, incredulous.

“I was working on that!”

John stared back at him. “I can see that. But you’ve probably had nothing other than coffee in the past six hours, and as much as you’d like to believe, you can’t live on only coffee. So come eat.”

Alex huffed. “Fine.”

John grinned, pulling him in for a kiss. “Thank you.”

Alex actually was hungry, he realized, once he smelled the eggs John had made for them. He ended up having seconds and then thirds, all the while listening to John talk about the photos he had taken the day before and the most recent project he had started with the kids in his art class at the studio. Something with paper and paint and glitter. He watched his boyfriend’s eyes light up as he motioned with his hands, watched his lips form the words, saw his nose scrunch up as he laughed.

_I’m so in love with him,_ he thought.

“Alex, it’s snowing!”

Alex was jolted from his thoughts when John shoved his chair back from the table, running to peer out the window over the sink. Alex got up and followed, pushing aside the curtain as he crowded next to his boyfriend.

John was right; fat, puffy white flakes drifted lazily down, landing against the glass and on the ledge, lingering for a second before they melted onto the surface.

Alex remembered the first time he had seen snow, after he came from the Caribbean. He was in college, walking to class with Eliza and Laf, when the first flakes had landed on the ground. He had stared up at the sky in wonder, shivering as a few made contact with his face. He hadn’t realized he’d stopped walking until Eliza asked him if he was alright.

John gazed in awe for a few seconds before turning to Alex.

“Come on, we have to go outside!”

Alex stared at him. “John, what-” he started, but John had already grabbed his hand and was pulling him toward the living room, toward the window that opened on the fire escape. Alex let himself be dragged, caught up in the other man’s excitement, and then they were standing on the metal structure, six stories above the busy New York streets with the snow falling gently above their heads.

John faced the sky, mouth open and tongue sticking out in an attempt to catch one of the ice crystals as it floated towards the ground. He laughed as they fell onto his face, in the midst of all his freckles. Alex took a few steps closer, wrapping his arms around John’s waist. His boyfriend brought his gaze back to eye level, twisting in Alex’s embrace so they were facing each other.

John beamed, the smile lighting up his entire face as the snowflakes fell between them. “You have snow in your hair,” he whispered, his warm breath forming a cloud in the cold air as he reached a hand up to brush off the top of Alex’s head.

“Yeah?” Alex whispered back. His eyes followed a single flake as it melted on John’s lips. “You have snow on your lips.”

Before John could reply, Alex was kissing him gently, just the two of them in a moment of silence on a fire escape six stories above the hustle and bustle of New York City, with the winter air nipping at their skin and the snow falling softly around them.

They parted after a few seconds, but they didn’t let go of each other, instead sitting down, their shoulders touching as they intertwined their fingers. They stared out through the metal bars, watching the snow fall between them and the buildings across the way, the sun glinting off the windows.

Alex didn’t know how long they sat there, watching the snow fall, but by the time they went inside, John’s face was flushed pink from the cold air and his curly hair was dotted with flakes of white. But he was smiling, green eyes dancing with light, and that was all that Alex needed. He had taken John’s hand and pulled him back inside, and they had made tea and wrapped themselves in blankets in the living room, staring out the window at the steadily increasing snowfall.

And if he didn’t get any more work done on the opening statements that day, no one needed to know.


	2. Ice Skating

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Some Aaron and Theo ice skating fluff. (as you can probably tell from the title)
> 
> Lots of very important research went into this chapter. (i.e. me watching Youtube videos of how to ice skate because I know how to do it but not describe it.)

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Two for two! I think I'm doing pretty good at this. Burr is actually hard for me to write for some reason.

The sound of laughter filled the air as various pairs of people circled around the rink, some of them holding onto the wall while others ventured towards the center. Everyone was on the ice; small children with their parents, teenage couples, adults, all spinning and sliding their way across the surface. The sun was bright overhead, doing little to counteract the chilly winter air.

Aaron sat on a bench outside the rink, holding a paper cup of tea between his gloved hands as he watched two girls spin around in the center of the ice, their hair flying out from underneath fuzzy hats. It was the first weekend after the rink had opened, and he had managed to purchase two tickets for an hour and a half of skating. He had surprised Theo with them that morning, and the look on her face had been enough to make him laugh.

_“Aaron Burr, what in the world made you think this would be a good idea?”_

_“You’re a dance teacher, Theo. It’s a reasonable assumption that you’re graceful enough to ice skate. Plus I thought it would be fun.”_

_“Yes, I dance, but dancing is movement on a floor that’s not slippery. There’s a difference.”_

In the end, she had agreed to go. She was always willing to try something new.

He looked up, smiling when he saw his wife of two years walking towards him with two pairs of skates in her hands. She pressed a chaste kiss to his cheek, her soft lips warm on his skin as she sat down beside him, loosening the laces of her skates after she slipped off her boots.

“So,” he began, placing his cup on the bench next to him as he eased his feet into the black skates. “Are you ready?”

Theo pulled up hard on the laces, making an attempt at a bow that fell loosely against her ankles. “Nope.” She picked up his tea and took a sip before she shoved her left foot into the other skate and sighed. “Why are these so hard to put on?”

Aaron leaned over. “Here, let me help you.” He tightened the laces from the bottom up, pulling them tight at the top and looping the ends into a bow. “There.”

Theo stuck her legs out, glaring at the skates as if they had personally offended her.

“If I fall, you’re taking care of me,” she muttered.

He grinned, grabbing her hands and pulling her off the bench. “Sounds like a plan.”

They made their way towards the ice, Theo gripping tightly onto Aaron’s coat as she took tiny steps, all the while looking down at her feet as she tried to keep her balance. Aaron pulled out their tickets to show to the man at the gate, who wished them luck, and they stepped onto the shiny surface.

Aaron was a reasonably good skater. He wasn’t the best by any means, but he was good enough that he wouldn’t make a fool of himself on the ice. His mother had taken him every winter before she passed away, and it was something he’d always enjoyed doing. He hadn’t skated since before college, he realized, but it wasn’t something you really forgot how to do.

He was well aware of his wife’s death grip on his arm, and he focused his attention back on her. She stood stiff at this side, with her other arm gripping the wall while she attempted to adjust her legs so she could stand properly.

“Hey, relax,” he whispered, rearranging her hand so it gripped his own instead of his arm. “You have to bend your knees, like this.”

She copied his stance, fingers tightening around his hand as she wobbled slightly. “Like this?”

“Good,” he said, grinning. “Now turn your foot out - no, the other one - yeah, like that.” He moved over to the left so she had more room to move. “Now, for balance, keep your arms just above your hips.” He stretched their linked hands slightly in front of them, watching as she slowly released her hold on the wall.

“Okay, now push backwards with your right foot.”

She did so, squeezing his hand tighter as they slid forward, only slightly unbalanced.

“Good! Now do that again, but from the left…”

Aaron continued to guide her through the movements as they slowly made their way around the perimeter. She kept her gaze on her feet at first, but soon her eyes were focused on the scene in front of her, looking up at the towering Christmas tree above them.

“See, you’ve got it,” he said, pulling her closer as they slowed down and wrapping an arm around her waist.

She pushed a few strands of dark hair from her face. “Yeah, it’s not that bad,” she laughed, glancing over at him.

He smiled. “Now it’s time to try it on your own.”

Her eyes widened. “Wait, no, Aaron-”

“You’ll be fine.” He dropped her hand, flipping around to skate backwards in front of her as she glared at him while still trying to maintain her balance. Her gaze was back on her feet again, and she gradually made her way towards him with slow steps, looking up every so often to make sure he was still there.

“I hate you.” The words were negated by the smile in her voice, and he glided up to her and took her hand again.

“You love me.” He pressed a kiss to her wind-chapped lips before moving back to her side, weaving their fingers together. “Come on.”

They made their way around the perimeter a few more times, neither of them falling over - although Theo came very close to it a couple of times. He gradually pulled her away from the edge, and she stopped looking at her feet as much as she got used to the foreign movements. After a while, Aaron started skating backwards again, watching fondly as his wife improved with each step, gaining more confidence and making bigger movements. He moved closer, taking both her hands in his own.

“Hold on tight,” he whispered.

She looked at him warily, eyebrows furrowing together as she frowned. “What are you doing?”

He didn’t answer, only grinned and pushed off, pulling her with him as he slid backwards and smirking at the shocked gasp she let out.

“Aaron, no, this is too fast-” She shrieked as he tugged her closer, spinning her around twice before slowing down and releasing her hand again, laughing.

She smacked his arm after she regained her footing. “What was that for?”

He grinned again. “For fun,” he said. “My mom used to do that with me when I was little. It was the best feeling in the world.”

She scowled, but he could tell that she wasn’t really mad. “Can we do it again? But slower?And can you teach me how to spin?”

“Yeah, of course,” he replied. He grabbed her hand, tugging her over to a relatively empty spot.

“Okay, so you have to skate backward first,” he started, showing her the movements as she gripped his hand tightly again. She copied him, swaying slightly as they moved.

“Keep your arms out from your shoulders this time,” he advised, pushing her arms up. They moved around the rink again, moving in the opposite direction. He stopped once they made it back to their original spot.

“Okay, now to spin, you cross your left foot behind your right, like this-” He pulled her alongside him slowly, watching as she stared at his feet. “And then bring your right foot back in front and stay on it while you curve-” She crossed her feet again as they circled slowly around. “And then do them both again.” She slowly went through the steps a second time, carefully watching her feet. They repeated that a few more times before they stopped.

“Good. Now, on the second set this time, stay on your right foot first, and then step forward with your left, and push again with your right.” He circled around her slowly, explaining as he moved. “Then you can spin on your left.”

Theo nodded once more, stretching her arms out as she started to move. She made it almost all the way through the spin before she lost her balance, falling backwards hard before Aaron could catch her.

“Shit,” he muttered, moving toward her and crouching down. “Are you okay?”

She winced, pushing her hair out of her face. “I think I landed on my tailbone.” She grabbed his offered hand, pulling herself up. When she tried to balance, however, her fingers dug into his arm again. Aaron’s free hand flew to her waist, holding her up as he led her to the edge, maneuvering around couples with linked arms and younger children chasing each other across the ice.

“I might have twisted my ankle,” she grimaced, gritting her teeth.

He led her off the ice, sitting down on the bench again. He knelt in front of her, gently working off her skates as she hissed in pain.

“How bad is it?” he asked softly.

She rolled her foot around slowly, curling her toes. “Not too bad,” she replied. “I can still walk on it. I’ll rest it when we get home.”

He removed his own skates, taking her hand as they went to return them. The girl working the desk wished them a good day as they left.

“I’m sorry,” he said as they walked slowly along the snow-dusted sidewalks toward their apartment.

“Don’t be,” she said, squeezing his hand. They had reached their building. “It wasn’t your fault. And besides, I had fun.”

He smiled at her as they made their way up the steps. When they made it inside, Theo sank down gratefully on the couch, propping her foot up on a stack of pillows. Aaron set a kettle of water to boil, and soon he was sitting next to her, each with a cup of tea in their hands and a fluffy blanket over their laps. She leaned her head on his shoulder, pressing her lips to his skin and closing her eyes.

“Today was fun, Aaron. Thank you,” she murmured, a smile crossing her face.

“Of course,” he whispered. “I love you.”


	3. Blankets and Cuddles

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Maria's daughter builds a pillow castle.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Okay, this is earlier than the past two nights! Now I just have to survive this week. School... fun.

 

Colorful, soft blankets lay strewn across the carpet in the living room, taken from various places in the apartment. The cushions had been pulled from the couches as well, propped up at an angle to form walls. A couple of chairs had been dragged in from the kitchen, with quilts laid across the backs and stretched between. Sunlight filtered in through the blinds, painting the makeshift fort in strips of light, and the small television played children’s cartoons to an audience of stuffed animals.

Maria sat at the kitchen table, in the lone chair that wasn’t in the living room. Two places were set, one across from the other, and she flipped through a novel, not really taking in the words, while she waited for the oven timer to go off. Chicken and rice; simple, easy comfort food after a long day.

She put her head in her hands, closing her eyes with a sigh. Being a hairdresser was tiring, constantly on her feet all day, interacting with people and making small talk. At least Daniela had let her go home early today, after Carla took two last-minute appointments.

The timer rang, startling her from her thoughts and causing her to nearly drop her book. She got up and pulled the pan from the oven, setting it carefully on the stovetop to cool while she cut an apple to put on her daughter’s plate. She heard laughter from the lopsided pillow fort, and she smiled.

Her six-year-old daughter had somehow convinced her that it would be a good idea to pull everything off the sofas and drag about a dozen blankets into the cramped living room just so she could have a fort to watch movies in. And although it would probably result in Maria cleaning it up the next morning before she went to work, she had agreed. So now there was a pillow fort -no, a pillow castle- taking up most of the living room.

“It’s not a fort, mommy, it’s a castle,” her daughter had informed her while she dragged cushions almost as big as her onto the floor. “I’m a princess!”

Maria had smiled, placing a pile of blankets onto a chair. “Yes you are, sweetie. The prettiest princess.”

She had been James’ princess once, before everything went wrong. She was his princess and he was her prince, the one who came to rescue her and take her to a wonderful, distant land.

They had started dating in high school, senior year, when he had taken an interest in her of all people. He called her beautiful, his beautiful princess, the only one he ever wanted. They went to college together, lived in the same apartment. And when James wanted something, he called her princess, and the nickname melted her heart. Then he wanted things that she didn’t want to give, but he took them anyway.

_“Where do you think you’re going, princess?” he whispered as she struggled. “You don’t say no to me.”_

And then she had Susan. One year, two years, three years passed, and she finally realized that she had to protect her daughter. So she left, filed for a restraining order, and was now living happily with her beautiful daughter. And if her daughter wanted to be a princess, Maria would make sure that her prince treated her right.

She finished cutting the apples, scraping the core into the trash.

“Susan, baby, time for dinner,” she called towards the living room.

Her daughter poked her head out between two of the blankets, pouting. “Can’t we eat in here?” she asked, giving her mother her best puppy-dog eyes.

Maria’s lips curved up into a smile. The night would probably end with a plate upended on the floor, but… “Sure, honey, why not?”

Susan’s face lit up and she cheered, crawling out of her castle to grab her plate off the table, carrying it carefully back through the doorway before crawling back inside on her knees. Maria followed, settling onto one of the chairs that had a blue and white checkered quilt draped over the back. Susan chattered about her day with “auntie Theo,” and how they had baked cookies and gone to the park.

Maria was beyond grateful for Theodosia Burr, the wife of the attorney who had helped Maria bring James to court. She didn’t know where she would be without the woman, honestly; she had gotten Maria through the emotional rollercoaster of the trial, and had stayed in touch afterwards, helping take care of Susan when Maria had to work. So the couple was basically family.

The ate quickly, Susan miraculously managing not to spill anything, and Maria placed their dishes in the empty sink before returning to the chair with her book. Frozen was now playing on the television, and snow was falling gently outside against the rapidly darkening sky. After a moment, her daughter’s voice came from behind the wall of blankets.

“Mommy, you have to come in here, or the dragon is going to get you!”

Maria laughed into her hand. “And why does the dragon want to get me?” she played along.

Silence, and then: “Because your necklace is shiny, and he wants it.”

Maria gasped dramatically, clutching at her neck. “Oh no! Not my magical necklace!” she cried, putting a hand to her forehead. “Whatever shall I do?”

Susan giggled, racing out of the “castle” and grabbing her hand. “Quick, get in here!” She pulled Maria to the entrance, ducking down to crawl inside.

Underneath all the blankets, surrounded by walls of cushions, it felt like a different place. The light from the lamp overhead cast shadows onto the floor, and a flashlight lit up the numerous stuffed toys that her daughter had dragged in from her bedroom. Maria curled herself up, looking over at her daughter.

“Is the dragon gone?” she asked, eyes wide.

“Not yet! And you have to be quiet, or he’ll hear us,” her daughter whispered.

Maria nodded solemnly. “Okay.”

They were silent for a moment, and then Susan crawled out between two chairs. “I think he’s gone,” she announced. “We can come out now.”

Maria crawled out beside her daughter, who had sat down on one of the abandoned throw pillows and was staring at the television. Elsa was making her ice castle on the abandoned mountain. Susan turned to her mother.

“That’s what my castle looks like,” she declared. “It has snowflakes on it, with fancy stairs.”

Maria smiled, running her hands through her daughter’s hair. “That sounds nice,” she said.

They continued to watch the movie, sitting on pillows on the floor, surrounded by her daughter’s stuffed animals. At some point, the pillow castle was destroyed, and they made their way to the couch with cups of hot chocolate and marshmallows that Susan had begged her for. After teeth had been brushed and pyjamas had been put on, Maria pulled her daughter close to her side, covering them both with a few of the numerous blankets they had to choose from, and Susan had fallen asleep as the movie ended.

Trying not to wake the sleeping child, Maria had picked her up and carried her to her room, tucking her into bed and putting a stuffed dog into her daughter’s arms. Susan had woken up then, as Maria clicked on the star night-light in the corner.

“G’night, mommy,” she mumbled, yawning and snuggling deeper under the comforter.

Maria smiled, crossing back to her daughter’s bed. She placed a kiss on the top of her head, stroking her hair.

“Sweet dreams, my princess,” she whispered.


	4. Christmas Songs

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Angelica can actually sing really well.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Ayyy I'm back, I'm a mess, let's go.  
> I'm actually really enjoying this set of fics. Even though I'm probably going to regret doing this when I should be sleeping, it's fun. And they all connect in little ways and they make me feel festive and cozy even though it's like 60 degrees here and raining. 
> 
> I just watched the Hamilton documentary so like... emotions.
> 
> Also, I don't own any of the songs in here. Just using the lyrics.

_They say that things just cannot grow, beneath the winter snow, or so I have been told._

The radio played quietly in the background of the brightly lit kitchen, accompanying the light snow falling outside the windows. The spacious apartment smelled of cinnamon candles that glowed from the center of the table, and the metallic scent from the heating systems that sparked to life as soon as the temperature dipped below freezing. A few strands of vanilla Christmas lights blinked gently from the walls underneath the cabinets.

Angelica stood at the kitchen counter, a colorful array of vegetables spread out in front of her and a half-full glass of wine off to the side. A recipe card sat on the marbled surface, stained with various cooking ingredients and showing its wear after years of use. A silver pot sat simmering on the stove, and the oven glowed warm with a pan of puffy bread.

She picked up the recipe card, holding the thin paper between slender fingers as her eyes flicked over the elegant cursive writing that belonged to her younger sister. Angelica smiled at the card, placing it carefully back on the counter as she picked up her knife once more, beginning to dice the onions that sat on the cutting board before scraping them into the pot on the stove.

She pushed her hair back with her wrist, wiping her hands on her apron as she stepped across the kitchen, absently turning up the volume on the radio as circled around the table.

_Have yourself a merry little Christmas, let your heart be light..._

“From now on, our troubles will be miles away,” Angelica sang, stepping back to her place at the counter and taking a sip of her wine. “Faithful friends who are dear to us gather near to us once more.”

People always told her that she had an amazing voice, when she finally got the nerve to sing in front of them. She never really showed it off though, and it wasn’t something that came up in conversation. She sang along to her favorite songs by herself; in the shower before work, walking home late at night on an empty sidestreet. But not in front of people.

She continued cutting the stash of vegetables in front of her, adding each one to the pot as she went, and singing along to the calming melodies floating through her apartment.

“Through the years we all will be together, if the fates allow…”

She had always spent the holidays with her family, with her sisters, but now that she was in London, she didn’t get to see them as often. Sure, they Facetimed on a regular basis and texted nearly every day, but that wasn’t enough. She didn’t get to jump around excitedly with Peggy after the ending of their favorite show, or bake cookies with Eliza, or stay up into the early hours of the morning just talking about anything that came to mind, sharing all her secrets with the two people she trusted the most. She didn’t feel as close to them as she used to be.

For example, Eliza and Peggy didn’t know that Angelica had a boyfriend.

_Hang a shining star upon the highest bough, and have yourself a merry little Christmas night._

Angelica sighed, shaking her head and spinning around to face the counter again and stare out at the dark sky, the falling snow illuminated by the dim streetlights.

_I'll be home for Christmas. You can count on me. Please have snow and mistletoe, and presents under the tree. Christmas Eve will find me where the lovelight gleams._

“I’ll be home for Christmas, if only in my dreams,” she whispered, her eyes transfixed on the reflections of the lights against her glass as the song continued in instrumentals.

_I’ll be home for Christmas, you can count on me. Please have snow and mistletoe, and presents under the tree._

“Christmas eve will find me where the lovelight gleams. I’ll be home for Christmas, if only in my dreams,”

The song ended and switched to an upbeat children’s song while Angelica, leaning with her forearms against the counter, took another sip of her wine while she contemplated the thoughts flooding her head.

She probably would be able to book a flight home for Christmas; after all, she was the head of her department. She could handle a few extra days off.

The melody on the radio switched to another, more upbeat song, one of the ones she used to sing with Eliza when they were younger. She grinned and began to sing, swaying her hips as she stood at the counter.

“I really can’t stay…”

_Baby, it’s cold outside._

“I’ve got to go away….”

_Baby, it’s cold outside._

“This evening has been so very nice…”

She was so absorbed in the songs, focused on the snow falling outside the window and the spoon in her hand, that she didn’t notice the apartment door opening, and her boyfriend stepping inside, grinning.

John Church stopped when he saw her, stalling in the motion of pulling off his gloves and coat as he took in the scene in front of him.

“My mother will start to worry,”

“Beautiful, what’s your hurry…"

Angelica spun around, her eyes wide as John started singing from the doorway, eyes gleaming as he hung up his coat. The radio played in the silence as Angelica recovered from the shock, and John crossed the room and made his way into the kitchen. Angelica began to sing again.

“The neighbors might think-” she began, smirking at her boyfriend as she leaned against the counter.

“Baby it’s bad out there,” John protested, gesturing to the snow outside the window.

“Say, what’s in this drink?” Angelica picked up her nearly empty wine glass, swirling the contents just below the rim.

John laughed, plucking the stem from between her fingers and placing it back on the counter with a clink before her grabbed her hands, twirling her around and pulling her close.

“I wish I knew how,” she sang, staring across at him. “To break this spell.” He released her hands and Angelica stepped away, crossing back to the stove to turn off the burner. She turned back to him, stepping backwards into the living room as the song continued to play.

“I ought to say no, no, no, sir,” she chanted, taking a step with every word.

He followed her movements. “Mind if I move in closer?”

She rolled her eyes, wrapping her arms around his shoulders when he got near enough. “At least I’m gonna say that I tried.”

He pressed his forehead to hers. “What’s the sense in hurting my pride?”

She laughed quietly, closing her eyes. “I really can’t stay,” she murmured, relaxing into his arms.

“Baby it’s cold outside,” they finished together. Angelica opened her eyes again, taking a deep breath in as she stepped back.

“You have a really nice voice,” John said, shifting forward so he could press a kiss to her cheek. “You should sing more often.”

“Mmm,” she hummed, stepping around him and back into the kitchen. “Maybe I will. But right now it’s time to eat.”

She glanced at the pictures she kept pinned to the magnetic board on the refrigerator. Eliza’s and Peggy’s faces beamed back at her and she smiled sadly.

“Hey,” he murmured, coming up behind her and wrapping his arms around her waist. “What are you thinking about?”

Angelica leaned back into his touch. “My sisters,” she whispered. “I miss them. And,” she continued, “They still don’t know about us.”

“Well maybe,” he started, moving back. “We can go visit them?”

“What do you-” Angelica turned around, going silent as she caught sight of the plane tickets in his hand.

“You always talk about them, and I figured you’d want to see them for Christmas,” he shrugged. “So I booked a flight for Friday morning.”

“No way,” she breathed, jumping into his embrace. “You’re the best,” she whispered against his shoulder.

 _I’ll be home for Christmas._ The song echoed inside her head.

_And it won’t just be my dreams._

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I was listening to Leslie's Christmas album while I was writing this, (it's really good, you should listen to it if you haven't already) and i was debating whether or not to include "Winter Song." It's such a pretty melody and all the backing instrumentals are amazing. So I put in in at the beginning, one of my favorite verses.
> 
> And I don't do songfics, including lyrics and everything, so this was new. I'll take inspiration from songs' I have a rough outline for something right now that goes with a song, but I don't type the lyrics into the text. This was cool though, I hope you enjoyed reading as much as I enjoyed writing it.


	5. Snowstorm

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> There's a blizzard and some things are realized and confessed.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Day... five! (I'm tired, don't judge me.)
> 
> Thank you so much for all the kind comments and kudos! I'm glad to hear that people are enjoying my attempts at fluff.
> 
> The weather here is nothing like what I'm writing about (it hasn't snowed once this month yet, but I can hope) so like... this isn't accurate but oh well. Also, this one isn't as... festive? Idk, it fits with my theme, but it ends unresolved. (For now).

The wind howled outside the window, blowing the snow sideways in great gusts and shaking the glass in the frames. Bright headlights from passing cars and yellowed street lamps glowed in the darkness, illuminating patches of the sidewalk and highlighting the thickly falling snow.

It was sometime after nine in the evening, and Hercules Mulligan sat at his kitchen table, hunched over an oversized sketchbook as he added more lines to the already graphite-covered paper, the outline of a skirt for one Peggy Schuyler coming to life on the page. Save for the quiet scratching of his pencil on the paper, the apartment was silent.

A cup of green tea sat off to the side, steam curling slowly off the surface, and the heaters clicked on sporadically as the temperature dropped with the snowflakes outside.

Every so often, his gaze flickered over to his bedroom door down the hall, closed and blanketed in shadows. He hadn’t heard any movement from the room, so he had no way of knowing whether or not Laf was awake, but what did it matter? They never talked afterwards, anyway.

Herc sighed and threw his pencil down on the table, running a hand down his face. There was nothing between them, not really. They were just friends.

The two had met at Herc’s coffee shop a few years back, when Alex had brought the Frenchman in over the summer. They had hit it off right away, and soon enough, Lafayette had become part of their group. The four of them hung out regularly, at each others’ apartments or in various places around the city, and Laf fit in perfectly with their little squad.

Herc had soon realized that Laf flirted. Heavily. With everyone. He and Alex would go back and forth in French, making stupid remarks and smirking at each other, and John would chime in with innuendoes and saucy winks at every pause.

But when Lafayette flirted with him, it was different, somehow. There was no trace of the joking light in his eyes that appeared when he teased John and Alex, none of the casual intimacy that was there when they hung out as a group. It was all small touches, brushes that could have been construed as accidental, casual jokes accompanied by a glance that was more than joking. There was so much tension; anyone could see that. But they never acted on any of it.

Until one night, after a couple bottles of Sam Adams, fleeting touches turned into hesitant kisses which ended with the two of them making out in Laf’s apartment while his roommate, Adrienne, was out with her friends. And suddenly the couch had become to small, and they wound up collapsing on Laf’s bed, tangled in each other and in the sheets, wandering hands and small gasps the only things that really registered.

Herc had immediately regretted it the next morning, convincing himself that it was just a drunk mistake that wouldn’t happen again.

But it did. It happened again a few weeks later, after Laf had cornered Herc and told him, point blank, that he didn’t regret a second of what happened that night and would be perfectly content with whatever Herc decided to do about it.

_“I am very comfortable with my sexuality, mon ami,” he declared, dark eyes staring into Herc’s. “I will not be offended by your decision.”_

_Herc stared at him. “So you want to keep doing… whatever this is?”_

_Laf smiled. “Oui,” he nodded. “What is it you Americans call it? No strings attached?”_

_Herc laughed quietly. “Yeah, no strings attached.”_

So that’s what they were, what they’d been for just over a year. Free moments stolen away in dark corners, late nights spent wrapped up in the sheets, a gentle graze of the fingers or a well-placed glance being the catalyst to one more night together. Gone were the days of meaningless flirting; this was so much more.

Herc sighed again, rubbing a hand along his collarbone and feeling the sensitive skin that was just beginning to bruise. Laf had come over a few hours ago, before the blizzard had started, citing a need to get away from Adrienne for a while, and they had ended up in bed, like they always did.

_What if we didn’t though?_ Herc thought to himself. _What if, for once, we were something more?_

He shook his head forcefully. That wouldn’t happen. That would never happen. And why was he thinking about it, anyway? It wasn’t something he wanted to happen.

The wind blew viciously outside, sending a smattering of snowflakes against the window.

_Was it?_

Putting his head in his hands, he contemplated. Every time the four of them went out together, he found himself wishing he could hold Laf’s hand as they walked, kiss him as casually as Alex did with John. He caught himself staring sometimes, not really noticing until the Frenchman glanced over at him and smirked.

He was in love with Lafayette.

To the rest of the world, they were just friends. Alex and John suspected nothing, although they were probably too absorbed in one another to notice much else. What happened between them was consensual, and they had decided from the start that there were no obligations, that there were no strings attached to whatever the hell they were doing.

He was jolted from his thoughts when his bedroom door creaked open, and he watched Lafayette step out into the hallway. His puffy hair was pulled back up into its regular tight updo, his crisp dress shirt was tucked seamlessly into his pants. He looked so put together that Herc himself had a hard time believing they’d just been messing around a few hours before. The only things out of place were his slightly swollen, kiss-bruised lips and the light marks scattered across his neck, fading down onto his chest under his unbuttoned collar.

Herc was expecting him to leave; after all, they never talked afterwards, so he was surprised when the other man sat down across from him, stealing a gulp from his long-forgotten mug of tea. He traced his fingers self-consciously across his collarbone before turning his gaze back down to his sketchbook, feeling the silence between them as he listened to the wind whistling outside the apartment.

Laf cleared his throat. “What are you drawing?” he asked, craning his neck to see across the table.

Herc raised an eyebrow, but turned the sketchbook around so it faced Lafayette.

Laf took in the sketch for a second before flipping it back toward Hercules. “It looks very nice,” he commented. Herc nodded, and they fell into silence again.

A few minutes passed, with Laf sipping at the tea, Herc erasing lines he didn’t like, and the faint sound of cars passing by echoing outside the building. Laf pushed his chair back from the table, scraping it loudly against the floor. Hercules looked up, startled.

“I cannot do this any longer,” he started, eyes looking anywhere except at him. If Hercules didn’t know any better, he would think the Frenchman was nervous.

“Do what?” he questioned, confused. What’s going on?

“This,” Lafayette emphasized, his hand motioning between the two of them.

“The no strings attached?” Herc clarified, standing up from his place at the table. He walked over to Lafayette, extending a hand to place on the man’s shoulder. “That’s fine, Laf, we can just be friends.”

“Non,” the other said angrily, shaking his head and stopping his pacing in front of Herc for a second. “You do not understand. I do not wish for us to be friends.”

Herc paused, letting the words sink in, and his heart dropped. “Oh. Okay, well, if that’s what you want-”

“Non, non, I did not mean it like that,” he interrupted. “I just-” he trailed off, brows furrowing as he frowned. “English is hard,” he muttered. He took a breath. “Je t’aime, Hercules.”

His heart leapt into his throat. Herc wasn’t fluent in French, but he knew what those three words meant. Before he could form a coherent thought, Laf’s hands were on his shoulders, moving up to his face, and then familiar lips were on his own.

It was different from all the other times they had kissed. Those had all been in the heat of the moment, with wandering hands and a single goal in mind. But now there was nothing else there, nothing else that they were expecting, and there were so many more emotion packed into this, everything that Hercules had been afraid to voice for so long.

And then it was over.

And Laf looked terrified.

Hercules opened his mouth to say something, anything to get that look off his friend’s face.

“Laf, I-”

“I- I should go,” he whispered, backing away.

Before Herc had a chance to respond, Laf was gone, the door slamming shut behind him.

The snow fell softly outside the windows, and everything was silent once more.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Don't kill me?
> 
> Random fact: lubricious is a word. I suggest you look it up. Quite steamy.


	6. Open Fire

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Some quality time with two of our favorite Schuylers.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Sorry for the late updates (usually like 11pm my time because school is a thing). I kinda forgot how much time school actually takes up, and it takes like two hours to write each of these, so... Bear with me for like two more days, then I'll stockpile so all I have to do is put one up in the morning instead of at midnight.
> 
> On a completely unrelated note, I kept thinking of the "Chestnuts roasting on an open fire" song because of the title, because that's how my brain works.
> 
> Enjoy!

One hour after all the kids had gone home, and the hallways were quiet. Every few minutes another door being closed echoed down the hallway, another teacher’s footsteps breaking the silence as they made their way out of the building. Eliza was one of them, around four in the afternoon, after she had finished tidying up her classroom. First graders were messy, and she had given them the task of making glitter-covered decorations for her to put up around the classroom. Needless to say, there was probably somewhere near an entire bottle of the stuff scattered across the floor.

She turned in her keys, checking her mailbox as bid goodnight to the secretary in the office, and made her way down the sidewalk in the fading rays of the quickly setting sun. It wasn’t snowing, but the bitter winter air and the icy winds were enough to make Eliza wish she hadn't forgotten her scarf that morning. She tucked her chin further into her chest, pulling the collar of her coat up against the back of her neck as she shivered. It would be okay; she only had to walk a few more blocks.

The crunch of the snow under her boots was calming, and she stared at the various footprints along the sidewalk as she walked. Smaller childrens’ footprints half-covered by adult-sized ones, and the occasional dog’s paw print lay packed into the soft snow, tinged gray from the dirty city streets.

By the time she finally made it home, the sun had dipped below the horizon and her face was tinted red from the cold. She hung her jacket from a hook on the coat rack, exchanging it immediately for her favorite sweater as she made her way to her bedroom to search for her fuzzy socks. Depositing her laptop on her desk to charge, she pulled a stack of papers and her water bottle from her bag and made her way back towards the kitchen. 

She filled her water bottle at the sink, twisting the top back on as she turned around to grab her papers off the counter. The caught sight of the bulletin board on the wall, several pictures pinned to it. She smiled at the one of her, Angelica, and Peggy, taken sometime before their sister left for London. She hadn’t come back to visit in awhile, but the three of them Facetimed on the weekends when they weren’t working.

Eliza ran her hand gently over the picture before turning from the kitchen and walking to the living room, settling down on the couch closest to the coffee table. She had papers she needed to grade, and Peggy wouldn’t be home for another hour.

A little after five thirty, the door opened and Peggy made her way inside, shouting a greeting to Eliza as she shrugged off her jacket and tossed it haphazardly over the coat rack while dropping her dance bag on the floor beneath it. Eliza rolled her eyes, but that was Peggy. A little scattered, sure, but whatever she did worked for her. 

Her sister wandered down the hall to her bedroom, returning with her earbuds in her hands, twirling them around her fingers while she walked. She then proceeded to drop heavily on the couch beside Eliza, bouncing slightly. 

“How was your day?” Eliza inquired, glancing up from her papers for a second.

Her sister grinned, bouncing more vigorously on the cushions. “Decent. The little kids are doing great; they have so much enthusiasm and energy, you know?” 

Eliza laughed. “You have no idea.”

“Anyway, they’re probably the most excited for the holiday performance in a few weeks,” she continued, brushing stray curls from her face. “I showed them their costumes today and their eyes lit up like stars.”

Eliza smiled. Little kids were the best. Despite their tendency for making messes and the general noise level, they had the best attitudes towards most activities.

The two of them sat in silence for a while, Eliza looking through her students’ math worksheets and sipping occasionally at her water while Peggy scrolled through Instagram, upbeat music playing quietly through the speakers as she watched videos. AFter a particularly rousing chorus of applause from Peggy’s phone, Eliza had finished grading and clipped the papers together, writing a few notes for what she needed to go over again.

Walking to her bedroom, she realized just how cold she was. Her fingers felt like ice, and her feet were freezing, even underneath her fuzzy socks. She shivered, making her way back toward the living room as she rubbed her hands together.

“Hey, Pegs, is it just me or is it cold in here?”

Her sister looked up. “Nah, it’s freezing.” Her eyes lit up. “Hey, do you wanna build a fire?”

Eliza grinned. “Yeah, that sounds amazing.” She crossed to the enclosed fireplace, pulling the grate back and grabbing a few pieces of wood from the basket on the floor. After a few minutes, a small flame had sparked between the pieces, spreading across the kindling at the bottom.

Eliza stood up. “I’m going to make tea, do you want any?” she asked, 

“Yeah, some of that peach one that Theo gave us,” Peggy answered from her spot on the couch, back to watching dance videos on her phone.

Eliza turned on the stove, putting a kettle of water to boil while she pulled out two mugs and her teapot, deciding she wanted more than one cup that night. After a moment’s thought, she pulled a bag of kettle corn from the cabinet, putting it in the microwave just as steam began to pour from the kettle.

After the popcorn was poured into a bowl, she made her way back into the living room, which was significantly warmer than when she had left. The lights were off, and the fire was glowing brightly from the fireplace. Peggy had seated herself on the floor, a pile of blankets beside her in addition to the bean bag chairs that usually lived in her room. Eliza raised an eyebrow, setting their drinks down on the coffee table.

“What’s all this?” she asked, settling down next to her sister and pulling a few fleece blankets towards her.

Peggy turned off her phone. “Blankets,” she stated. “Because it’s cold. And beanbags so we could sit closer to the fire.”

“Sounds good to me,” Eliza replied. She held out the bowl of popcorn. “Here.”

Peggy took a handful, shoving it in her mouth, and Eliza placed the bowl between them before shifting on the bean bag so she could face the fire as well as her sister. The flames snapped and popped, sending sparks up into the air as the girls ate popcorn and sipped on the scalding tea.

“So,” Peggy broke the silence after another handful of popcorn, turning towards Eliza. “What’s going on in your life?”

Eliza smiled slightly, remembering all the times that she and her sisters had stayed up late, eating snacks and talking about anything and everything. They hadn’t done this in so long, she realized, and even though Angelica wasn’t here now, she and Peggy could still have a good time.

“Well,” she started, turning slightly towards her sister. “There’s this girl in my class, Susan. She’s really sweet and has a great imagination. The other day, she wrote me a story about a princess and a dragon.”

“Aww,” Peggy cooed, grinning. “That’s cute.”

“Anyway,” Eliza continued. “I met her mom a few weeks back, at parent-teacher conferences. And she’s really nice. And pretty. Her makeup was perfect, and her hair was so long and curly and-”

Peggy smirked, nudging Eliza’s shoulder with her own. “Somebody’s got a crush,” she singsonged, cutting off her sister’s rambling.

Eliza blushed. “No I don’t,” she dismissed quickly, waving her hand as if to physically shoo the idea away.

Peggy shrugged as best she could while leaning on her elbows. “Whatever you say, sis.”

They talked about various topics for a while; Peggy’s dance students, Eliza’s first graders, the Christmas party that would inevitably be held at Washington’s house again, their troubles and accomplishments from the past few weeks. Everything that they missed when the didn’t see each other twenty-four hours a day.

They finished the bowl of popcorn, poured more cups of tea, and watched the fire flicker multicolored red-orange-yellow behind the metal grate.

“Have you heard from Angelica lately?” Peggy asked after a moment, shifting from underneath her pile of blankets to look at her sister. 

“No,” Eliza frowned, shaking her head. “She’s probably just busy.” 

Peggy groaned, flopping back into her blanket pile. “We should call her on Saturday or something.”

“Yeah, we should,” Eliza agreed, crossing her arms over a pillow and leaning her head down.

Peggy shifted closer, bringing her bean bag and her small mountain of blankets with her, and cuddled up next to Eliza, her curls fanning out and brushing against Eliza’s wrist. They stayed like that, the two of them spread out across the floor with empty tea cups and piles of warm blankets, and watched the fire burn lower as it ran out of wood. 

They let the silence stay as it was. They didn’t need words to express everything they wanted to say. They had each other.

And for now, that was enough.


	7. Snow Angels and Snowmen

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Snow for days.
> 
> Featuring: my accidental and shameless quotes from Frozen because I'm a mess.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> My chapter summaries aren't really descriptive, but I'll live. Tonight we're back to Alex and John.
> 
> Almost the weekend! One more day and then I'll probably start publishing in the mornings so these aren't going up at 11 pm.
> 
> Thank you for all your wonderful feedback! <3

John stepped off the crowded bus, looping his scarf tighter around his neck as the frigid winter air blew across his cheeks. The freshly fallen snow crunched under his boots as he made his way down the sidewalk, his gaze falling down to glance at his phone every so often.

The day had been tiring, to say the least. He’d gotten to the studio earlier than usual so he could finish a few paintings that had been commissioned for a holiday exhibit, and had started at least three more that needed to be finished within the next three weeks. He’d also taken over two art classes for one of his colleagues who had called in sick at the last minute, and spent the day dealing with very rowdy, yet enthusiastic, young students.

So John was exhausted.

Alex hadn’t texted him much that day, aside from once that morning, wishing him a good day with a string of heart emojis, so John assumed that his boyfriend wouldn’t be home until late. He figured he would just lie down and take a nap until Alex came home, and then they would eat dinner and go to bed.

So he was surprised when, after unlocking the door and stepping into the apartment, he saw Alex sitting on the couch typing rapidly on his laptop. Unsurprisingly, there was an empty cup of what had probably been coffee sitting on the table in front of him.

“What are you doing home?” John questioned, slipping his boots off in the hall as he shrugged off his coat.

“I was arguing with Jefferson again, and Washington sent me home early,” he replied, his fingers never faltering on the keyboard. “Actually, he sent me home on time instead of letting me stay late, but still.”

John laughed, striding over to the couch and settled down next to his boyfriend. He leaned his head on the man’s shoulder, closing his eyes and breathing in the scent of coffee, ink, and shampoo that was so uniquely Alex. 

His boyfriend’s shoulders shifted slightly as his hands moved over the keyboard, typing out lengthy paragraphs, and John’s head rocked with the small movements, but he didn’t mind. He could probably sleep anywhere if he tried hard enough.

Eventually, Alex’s hands slowed to a stop, and John opened his eyes slightly, tilting his head backwards to look up at him. Alex was looking down at him with raised eyebrows and a gentle smile. 

“Long day?” he asked quietly, bringing his hand down to grasp John’s fingers in his own. 

John slid his fingers between Alex’s, relishing in the slight contact.. “Yeah,” he mumbled, yawning as he sat up and leaned against the back of the couch.

Alex released John’s hand carefully, leaning forward to place his computer on the table in the center of the room before standing up.

“Let’s do something fun,” Alex said, bouncing on the balls of his feet while John stared at him.

“Well what do you have in mind?” he asked. “Because if you weren’t aware, it’s Thursday, we have work tomorrow, and the last time you wanted to do something ‘fun,’” he made air quotes with his fingers, “the four of us ended up with hangovers because you thought it would be a good idea to challenge Herc to a shots contest.”

Alex glared at him. “That was one time,” he mumbled. “Besides, it was fun in the moment.” His eyes lit up. “Do you wanna build a snowman?” he whispered excitedly, already grinning as he waited for John’s response.

John smiled, drinking in the sight of his boyfriend’s animated expression and expectant eyes. “Sure, why not?”

Alex’s grin grew bigger, and he grabbed John’s hand again. “Yes! Okay let’s go.”

John let himself be tugged up off the couch and down the stairs while attempting to put on his coat with one hand and trying not to trip over his own feet. They burst out into the cold air again, and John was effectively woken from his sleepy daze.

For whatever reason, their apartment building had a pretty sizeable backyard of sorts, which was left unshoveled in the winter save for the sidewalk leading out along the side. So there was plenty of untouched snow for them to build a snowman with. 

Alex set to work packing a handful of snow into a ball that he could roll across the ground, and John walked over to the corner where he was pretty sure there was a pile of branches that had been cut and left there that fall. He dug through the unevenly shaped pile of snow and pulled out two that were perfect for arms. Walking back towards Alex, he stuck them upright in the snow a few feet away.

The snow sparkled in the dim glow of the streetlights, and the shimmering shifted with every movement as John pressed handfuls of the stuff into a rounded shape before pushing it across the previously unmarred surface.

Alex had shoved his steadily growing ball into the center of the yard, stamping down the snow around it with his boots. John lifted up his own snowball, measuring it against Alex’s for a second before putting it back on the ground and smoothed more snow across the surface.

Once he was satisfied with the size, he pushed it across the yard and lifted it onto the base before helping his boyfriend place the final one on top. They stood back and appraised it for a few seconds before turning to face each other.

John grinned. “I’ll be right back,” he said, before turning back towards the building. 

He stomped his snow-covered boots at the entrance, not wanting to track the frozen water up the stairs, and raced back up to their apartment. He knelt down inside the door, digging through the bin where they kept their winter clothes, and pulled out a hat and scarf that neither of them used regularly. Slipping off his damp boots, he made his way to the kitchen, opening the refrigerator and hoping that they still had carrots from when they had tried to make stew the week before.

John found what he was looking for and shoved his feet back into his boots, zipping up his coat while he headed back down the stairs.

He made it back to the yard, a few stray snowflakes falling against his face, and found Alex affixing the stick arms to their unfinished snowman. He stepped into the snow, feeling his feet sink into the drifts as he made his way across the yard and held out the pile of stuff.

Alex smiled broadly. “Good thinking,” he said, turning back to the snowman and pressing something dark into a column in the center snowball. . “I found a couple pieces of charcoal from the fire pit that’s under the stairs, and that stuff will be a nice touch.”

The worked together, side by side as they placed the final touches on their snowman, elbows brushing as they reached across each other. After a few failed attempts to get the scarf to stay on, they stepped back.

“Not too bad,” John murmured, taking in the sight of their finished work as more snowflakes started to fall.

“Yeah, we did a good job” Alex agreed, the corners of his mouth curling up slightly as he turned towards John. “That was fun.”

Alex stepped closer to him, putting out a gloved hand towards John’s face as if to caress it, and John took a step closer, closing his eyes as he leaned in.

He felt a pair of hands make contact with his chest and shove him backwards, and he lost his balance, falling heavily into a pile of snow before he realized what had happened.

John sputtered, shocked by the cold as he brought his snow-covered hands up in a vain attempt to wipe off his face. “What was that for?” he cried, pushing himself into a sitting position.

Alex was laughing, his eyes crinkled at the corners as his mouth broke into a wide grin. “You should have seen your face!” he said, gasping for breath between words, doubled over as he cackled. 

John glared at him for a second before flopping back into the snow, spreading his arms out to the sides. He lay motionless for a second, staring up at the dark sky while snowflakes spiraled dizzily towards his face. He began to move his arms, shoving the snow out of the way as he created lare arcs with his hands and feet. He sat up carefully, glancing back at his snow angel while Alex continued laughing in the background.

Eventually, he calmed down enough to stand up straight, taking in John’s position on the ground.

“I’m sorry, I thought it was funny.” Alex looked guilty for a second before stepping carefully over John’s legs. “Here, let me help you up.”

John smirked and grabbed his boyfriend’s outstretched hand, gripping it firmly in his own before he pulled as hard as he could. His smirk grew while he watched Alex’s eyes widen comically as he lost his balance, toppling face-first into the snow next to John.

His boyfriend spat out a mouthful of snow, pushing himself up onto his knees as he dragged his hand through the pile, flicking a handful of ice crystals at John.

“I guess I deserved that,” he muttered, flopping down onto his back. His hair splayed out beneath his head, contrasting sharply with the white snow.

John grinned, leaning back into his snow angel. “Yeah, you did.”

They lay in silence for a while, Alex pushing his arms out to make a snow angel of his own while John stared at their snowman, listening to the shouts of people passing by on the street out front.

When the snow started to fall more evenly, coating their clothes in a thin layer of fresh snow, John sat up, carefully pushing himself to his feet so he didn’t disturb the figure he had created in the snow. He stepped over to his boyfriend, holding out a hand. 

Alex sat up, reaching out. “I promise I won’t pull you over,” he said solemnly, laughing as John pulled him up and into his chest.

They stood like that for a moment, beneath the steadily increasing snowfall, their breath clouding the air as they pressed their foreheads together. John pressed his lips gently to Alex’s, noting the faint taste of cherry chapstick as his boyfriend wrapped his arms around John’s shoulders and exhaled softly against his lips.

They broke apart after a second, mouths curving up into matching smiles as John’s arm slid around Alex’s waist, and they walked back into the warm building, leaving matching snow angels and a carefully built snowman in the behind them in the darkness.


	8. Snow Fort

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Friday nights are for the girls.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> First week of this fic is almost done, and I'm loving it. I didn't know if I would have enough inspiration or motivation to do a month of this, but I'm doing pretty well!

“Okay,” Peggy shouted, her voice echoing through the mirrored studio room as a dozen small faces stared up at her. “Our performances are next weekend. Are you ready?”

A chorus of excited voices filled the space, offering some form of agreement. Peggy smiled, waiting for the cheers to die down before she spoke. “You guys have been doing great, so just keep practicing. I’ll see you all next week!”

She made her way over to the side of the room, picking up her water bottle and waving goodbye to the line of kids who grinned at her as they skipped out of the room.

These kids were the sweetest, and Peggy loved them.

She pulled her phone from the bag on the floor, unlocking it and scrolling through a few of her messages. One from Eliza, asking if she wanted pizza, one from Theo, telling her that the last of the costume pieces had arrived, and one from Herc, aking if the bonfire was still on for the following night.

She replied to all of them -of course she wanted pizza, a string of relieved smiley face emojis for Theo, and an affirmative to Herc -and made her way towards the locker room to change out of her dance clothes and into something warmer.

On her way out, she ran into Theo, the other woman still dressed in her ballet leotard and flats.

“Hey!” she said grabbing her hand as she walked by. “How’s your ankle doing?”

“All good, it doesn’t hurt too much anymore,” Theo answered, looking down as she rolled said ankle in a circle. “I’ve been stretching it.”

“Good to hear.” She paused. “You still want to come over tonight? ‘Liza’s getting pizza.”

Theo smiled, the corners of her eyes crinkling. “Yeah, of course! Aaron’s not joining us though; he's working late on a case.”

“All good, we’ll see him tomorrow anyway,” Peggy, replied, pulling her jacket from the hook on the wall. “You ready to leave?”

“Lemme just change and then we can go,” Theo said, releasing Peggy’s hand. “I’ll be right out.”

Peggy sat down in one of the plastic chairs, dropping her bag at her feet while she scrolled through her phone again. Another text from Herc, asking if Lafayette was going to be at the bonfire the following night. She paused for a second, confused. Were the two of them fighting or something?

 _No, that’s ridiculous,_ her brain supplied. _They’re best friends._

She replied yes, refraining from asking why as she clicked her phone off. She knew that Herc wouldn’t answer unless he wanted to, anyway.

At that moment, Theo emerged from the locker room, scarf wrapped around her neck and her bag slung over her shoulder.

“I’m ready when you are,” she pronounced, pulling her car keys from her bag.

Peggy stood up, reaching down to pick up her bag. She shoved her phone inside, hooking it over her arm.

“Let’s go,” she said, making her way towards the door. “I hungry and I want pizza.”

She forgot about the message again for the rest of the night.

Peggy was grateful for the heat in Theo’s car, and the fact that she didn’t have to walk home in the freezing cold that day. The two of them sang along dramatically to the Christmas songs on the radio, breaking into laughter when Peggy tried to sing the lowest parts in a comically deep voice.

The made it back to the Schuylers’ place just after Eliza, who hugged them both when they walked through the door.

“Pizza is on the table, help yourselves,” her sister said, walking back towards the kitchen and pulling out three plates.

They sat and talked for a while, slowly making their way through the pizza boxes as the sky outside grew steadily darker with each passing minute.

Peggy shoved one last bite of pizza into her mouth and chugged the rest of her soda. She tossed her napkin onto her empty plate and stood up, looking over at Theo.

“Okay, time to go. You ready?” she asked.

Theo slid her chair back. “Yup.”

Eliza glanced between them. “What are you guys doing?”

Peggy grinned, twisting her head to look over her shoulder as she tugged on her jacket. “Making a snow fort!” she said gleefully, pulling her gloves from the pocket and slipping them over her fingers. “You want to join us?”

Eliza shook her head, standing up from her spot at the table and grabbing the empty plates. “Nah, it’s too cold. You two have fun though.”

“Your loss!” Theo called as she opened the door. She turned to Peggy. “Let’s go.”

They made their way out to the sizeable backyard, where everything was covered in the snow except for the square of concrete near the back where the fire pit stood. Peggy grabbed two shovels from where they rested against the fence, and pulled a large bucket over towards Theo.

“Okay, so we can make it over there,” she said, pointing to the farthest corner of the yard, opposite the fire pit. “And we have to clean off the sidewalk while we’re at it, so we can use all that snow too.”

Theo took the red shovel in her gloved hands. “Sounds good,” she declared, digging the hard plastic into the show beside her. “Let’s do this.”

They filled the bucket with snow, packing it down with their hands as they went, and eventually abandoned their shovels while they dragged it over to the corner of the yard.

“Okay, on three we flip it over,” Peggy said. “Ready?”

Theo nodded. “Ready,” she echoed, gripping the rim.

“Alright. One, two, three!”

They lifted the edge of the bucket as quickly as they could, flipping it over onto the snow-covered ground. It landed heavily, and kind of lopsided, which was easily fixed with a few nudges. Peggy lifted up her foot and stomped a few timed on the bottom of the upended bucket.

“Okay, you should be able to take it off now,” she said, stepping back as Theo knelt down, wrapping her hands around the bucket and pulling it up carefully to reveal a perfect cylinder of snow.

“Yes!” Peggy cheered, smoothing her hand over the top. “Perfect. Now we just need about a hundred more.”

Theo giggled. “We should get to work then, shouldn’t we?”

They trudged back and forth through the snow drifts, slowly making their way around the yard as they filled up and dumped out buckets full of packed snow. The sidewalk was cleared after the first row on each side of the fort was created, and they had started taking snow from the center of the outlined square, slowly stacking smoothed cylinders on top of one another.

“I think stacking four high is enough, right?” Theo gasped as she and Peggy lifted the full bucket up onto the partially completed wall.

“Yeah, that way we can still see over the sides,” Peggy agreed, banging the end of her shovel on the bucket to loosen the snow inside before carefully lifting it off. She stepped back, tired arms falling by her sides as she took in the nearly completed fort.

“Almost done,” she said, dropping the bucket to the ground. “We just need to finish this side, and then we can carve out windows and a door.”

Fifteen minutes later, they were done. The sidewalk had been scraped clean, and most of the large piles of snow had been transformed into the falls of the fort. The shovels lay forgotten in the snow, stuck upside down inside the empty bucket while the girls appraised their work.

“That,” Theo declared after a second, “looks awesome.”

“Agreed,” Peggy said, grinning at her friend. “Now all we need is a flag.”

“We can add that tomorrow,” Theo said, walking back towards the stairs. “Right now, let’s go inside. We’re covered in snow.”

They took of their snow-covered boots at the door, shrugging off icy coats and tossing their hats and gloves into a pile at the door before making their way to Peggy’s room to change into dry clothes. They walked back to the kitchen, grabbing Eliza on the way there.

“Got any festive drinks?” Theo asked, sliding gracefully onto the edge of the table, swinging her legs back and forth.

Peggy opened the refrigerator. “We have eggnog,” she announced. “And nutmeg to put on top.”

“Perfect.”

Peggy poured out three glasses before kneeling on the counter to reach the spice cabinet, ignoring Eliza’s disapproving look as she tossed the nutmeg down to Theo.

The three of them sat in silence for a while, sipping their drinks and letting the comfortable silence linger. After a while, Eliza got to her feet, placing her glass in the sink.

“I’m going to bed, she announced. “Don’t stay up too late.”

“Okay, mom,” Peggy drawled, smirking at her sister as she rolled her eyes. She turned to Theo.

“Wanna watch Elf?”

Theo grinned. “Of course.”

And if they ended up watching classic holiday cartoons until one in the morning, with Theo falling asleep on the couch and Peggy on the floor, their empty glasses placed carefully on the table between them, that was okay too.


	9. Bonfires

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Saturday nights with the squad.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I think I'm probably going to just continue writing every night. It's fun, having something new to do every day.
> 
> This chapter consisted of a discussion and research on flights across time zones and some math to figure that out, so that was interesting.
> 
> I was going to switch perspectives on this, but it never actually happened. This thing is a little longer than the others. I hope you enjoy!

Angelica stepped out through the sliding doors at JFK airport, the freezing New York air hitting her face and blowing her hair over her shoulders. She smiled. It was good to be home.

John stepped out next to her, switching his suitcase to his other hand and grabbing her free hand in his own.

“Do you want to go see your sisters first, or get breakfast?” he asked as they walked towards the main sidewalk, stretching their legs from the long flight.

“Breakfast,” she said difinitively, “even though it’s ten in the morning. And I need coffee.”

Her boyfriend laughed. “It can be brunch then,” he said, squeezing her hand. “And I’m on board with the coffee.”

They caught a cab into the city, stopping at a small cafe a few blocks from Peggy and Eliza’s place. John went up to the counter to order while Angelica grabbed a table in the corner, setting their suitcases against the wall and pulling out her phone.

Eliza had been texting her the night before, telling her about their plans for a bonfire that night and expressing the fact that she wished Angelica could be there. Angelica had agreed with her sister, telling her how much she missed everyone and managing not to break and spill to Eliza that she would, in fact, be there.

Her sisters would probably kill her for not telling them, but the surprise would be worth it.

John came and sat down a few minutes later, carrying a box of muffins and two large cups of strong coffee. Angelica breathed in the scent, taking the warm drink from him gratefully.

They broke pieces off the muffins, tanking small sips of their scalding coffee and trying not to burn their tongues. After two of the three muffins had been eaten, John sat back in his chair, looking up.

“Are you ready to see your sisters?” he asked, looking at Angelica from across the table.

She grinned. “Of course,” she replied. She took another gulp of coffee. “I’ve missed them so much.”

John smiled, but it didn’t quite reach his eyes. “Yeah,” he murmured, biting his lip as he looked out the window.

Angelica frowned, setting down her cup and leaning her forearms on the table. “What’s wrong?”

John paused, taking a breath before looking carefully back at her. “We still haven’t told them about us,” he said quietly. “Do you think they’ll like me?”

“Hey,” she whispered, shifting her coffee to the side and taking his hand. “Of course they will, why wouldn’t they?”

“I don’t know,” he said, pulling his hand away. “But what if they don’t? They seem like a huge part of your life. What if they don’t like me and you decide that you don’t either?”

Angelica sat there, speechless, her mouth parted without words for a reply as her boyfriend shifted uncomfortably in his seat, not meeting her gaze.

“John,” she murmured after a second. He looked up. “They’re my sisters, of course they’re part of my life; they’re probably part of me to be honest,” she laughed before continuing. “And I love them with all my heart. But I love you, too, and their opinions can’t change that.”

He looked back at her. “You sure?”

She smiled. “I’m sure.”

“Okay,” he replied. “Okay.” He laughed running a hand through his hair. “Sorry, that was stupid.”

“No it wasn’t, it’s a valid concern,” she said, leaning back. She peeled the paper off the last muffin in the box. “Want to split this?”

After spending a little more time in the cafe and getting two more cups of coffee, Angelica tossed the empty muffin papers in the trash before grabbing her suitcase.

“Ready to go?” she asked. John nodded. “We can walk, it’s only a few blocks.”

They exited the cafe and made their way through the busy city streets, their boots crunching the rock salt on the icy sidewalks. Various groups of people milled around, going about their days while they talked loudly on their phones or to whomever they were walking with. It was almost eleven when they made it to Eliza and Peggy’s place, stopping in front.

“They’ll love you,” she murmured, releasing his hand as they reached the bottom of the stairs. She rose up on her toes slightly, pressing a kiss to his cheek before turning back to the stairs.

They stepped up onto the porch. A small wind chime hung from the hook above the door, and a brightly colored welcome mat sat just below the threshold. Angelica stared at the door for a second, took a deep breath, and rang the doorbell.

The door opened after a few seconds, and Peggy’s grinning face stared back at her, mouth opened in an expectant greeting. Angelica watched the carefree look on her sister’s face changed to shock, her eyes widening as she froze in the doorway.

“Surprise,” she managed, vaguely aware of John taking her suitcase handle from her fingers before she held an armful of Peggy and her face was engulfed in curly, citrus-scented hair.

Angelica heard something shatter from farther inside the apartment, the harsh sound followed by hurried footsteps in her direction. She managed to glance over Peggy’s shoulder, catching a glimpse of Eliza’s stunned expression before she was assaulted by another weight slamming into her shoulder as her other sister wrapped her arms around Angelica’s waist.

The three of them stood like in the doorway that for what seemed like an eternity, but was probably only a minute or two. They broke apart, still remaining in contact with one another as Peggy and Eliza wiped their eyes.

“What are you doing here?” Peggy cried. “I thought you were busy in London.”

“And why didn’t you tell me you’d be here?” Eliza added, pushing her dark hair over her shoulder. “We were talking last night!”

“It was a surprise,” Angelica grinned. “Did it work?”

Peggy punched her arm as Eliza laughed, wiping at her eyes again. “Of course it did!” she nearly shouted, face still tinted pink. “That doesn’t mean you couldn’t have told us.”

Eliza’s gaze focused over Angelica’s shoulder, looking at John. “Who’s this?” she asked. She turned to her sister. “I don’t believe we’ve been introduced.”

Angelica took a step back, intertwining her fingers with John’s and breathing in before she spoke. “Eliza, Peggy, this is John Church, my boyfriend.” She turned to the man beside her. “These are my sisters, but you already knew that.”

Peggy screeched, and Angelica felt John’s grip on her fingers tighten slightly.

“It’s nice to meet you.” Eliza spoke first, stepping forward and extending a hand. John released his grip on Angelica to shake hands with her sister.

Eliza looked up at him as she stepped back. “Just know that if you hurt her, you’ll regret it.”

John nodded. “Good to know,” he replied evenly. Angelica could hear a slight note of fear in his tone.

Peggy jumped in. “Ange, what other secrets have you been keeping?” she questioned. “You’re not pregnant or something, are you?”

Angelica choked her next breath, and she felt John tense slightly beside her. “No, Peggy, I’m not,” she managed after a second. “Stop taking.”

Peggy grinned. “Just making sure.” She turned to John. “Don’t break her heart, or I’ll have to fly to London to kill you,” she warned. “That’s almost a waste of my time. And they’ll never trace it back to me, let me assure you. Now, why don’t you guys come in?”

John glanced at Angelica as they made their way inside. “Your sisters are intense,” he murmured, eyes wide.

Angelica grinned. “Yeah, kinda,” she replied. “Although you should probably take those threats seriously. Peggy doesn’t joke around.” She laughed at the frightened look on his face as she shrugged off her coat and made her way to the kitchen.

Theo was kneeling on the ground, carefully sweeping up pieces of broken glass off the tiled floor when Angelica walked in. The other woman stood up, throwing her arms around Angelica’s shoulders.

“It’s good to see you, Angelica,” she said once she had stepped back. “How’s London?”

Angelica told her about her position in the company, as well as a few other things, redoing introductions between Theo and her boyfriend once John appeared behind her. The five of them sat in the kitchen, talking and laughing as they prepared snacks for the bonfire that night before the guests arrived. Theo asked if she could invite a friend.

The reactions to Angelica’s surprise arrival varied; Alex and John both wrapped her in hugs, Burr smiled and nodded politely, Lafayette kissed both her cheeks enthusiastically (much to the confusion of her boyfriend), and Herc had nearly lifted her off her feet with his signature bear hug.

Just before they were about to go outside, Theo returned from the door with a dark-haired woman who introduced herself as Maria Lewis. Peggy smirked, raising her eyebrows as she nudged Eliza, who blushed and nodded. Angelica made a mental note to ask about that later.

Five minutes and a lot of chair switching later, a large bonfire had been built by Herc and John Church in the fire pit in the corner of the yard, a few crates of beer sat on the sidewalk just outside the circle, and Angelica sat contentedly between her boyfriend and John Laurens. Alex sat to John’s left, of course, with Burr on his other side engaging in what seemed like civil conversation. Theo was beside Burr, laughing at something Laf had said, seated to her left. The new girl, Maria, sat beside Laf, engaged in a quiet conversation with Eliza, who looked as is she would combust any second. Herc sat on the opposite side of the circle from Laf, between John Church and Peggy, not looking at the Frenchman even once as Peggy waved her hands around animatedly.

Angelica frowned. The two of them, along with Alex and John, were best friends. Why wouldn’t they be talking? Had something happened?

She decided to find out. She tapped her boyfriend on the shoulder, silently motioning for them to switch seats. He did so gladly, quickly striking up a conversation with John Laurens about London, where Laurens had apparently studied law for a while before he told his father to shove it.

Peggy had since joined Eliza and Maria’s conversation, likely starting some sort of drinking game based on the swig she had just taken from her bottle, and Herc sat quietly by himself, staring at the crackling fire. 

“Hey,” she said, leaning over into his field of vision. He startled, looking over at her. 

“Hey,” he replied, taking a sip of his drink. “How’s London been?”

“It’s great, actually,” she said, placing her empty bottle down beneath her chair. “Have you designed anything new lately?”

“Yeah, I just started a skirt for Peggy,” he started. “Haven’t done much with it yet, but it’s getting there.” He paused. “Your boyfriend’s pretty chill. I showed him a few of my designs. Gonna be weird though, having two Johns around.”

“Mhmm,” she hummed absently, before changing the subject. “What’s going on with you and Laf? I noticed you guys aren’t talking.”

Herc sighed, closing his eyes. “I hoped nobody would notice,” he muttered, turning to face her. “I didn’t plan on you being here, though.”

She raised an eyebrow, the corners of her mouth turning up into a half smirk. “Spill,” she said.

Herc glanced over to the other side of the circle, as if to make sure Laf couldn’t hear them before he spoke.

“We were… something,” he began quietly, and she leaned in to hear him better. “No strings attached. We didn’t tell anyone, and they didn’t notice. And I guess, at some point, I fell in love with him.”

He paused, sighing again, and Angelica remained quiet. The fire crackled as she wanted, and Herc took another gulp of his drink before he continued. 

“Last week, the night of the snowstorm, he came over. We- we did some stuff, and then I started thinking about everything. About what I wanted from it.” He was speaking quickly, rushing his words. “And we never talk after any of this, so when he got up, I kinda expected him to just leave, I guess?” He shook his head. “But he didn’t. He stayed. And he asked me about my drawing.”

He stopped again, running a hand over the beanie on top of his head before he dropped his hands into his lap, his eyes flickering down with them. “He said he loved me, and we kissed. Then he left,” he finished in a whisper.

Angelica processed the information, waiting for a second to see if Herc would say anything more, but he was finished speaking. The fire popped in the silence, sending a shower of sparks their way. They faded out as she took a breath.

“You haven’t spoken to him at all since that night?” she asked quietly. 

Herc shook his head. “When he left, he looked like he regretted it,” he muttered. “I don’t know if I could deal with that rejection again.”

“Well he said he loved you, right?” The man nodded. “That doesn’t sound like someone who regrets it.”

He shook his head again. “You didn’t see his face.”

“I still think you should talk to him,” she murmured, placing her hand on top of his. “You never know until you ask.”

“Yeah, I know,” he replied, glancing over at Lafayette, who was was laughing at something that Alex had yelled in French. “I don’t know if I want to know, though, you know?”

She shrugged. “It’s your choice, man. But if you want it, you should go for it. The worst that you’ll get is a no.”

He opened his mouth to respond, but Angelica cut him off. “And I don’t think that’s what’s going to happen.”

They sat for a while after that, and Herc showed her a few projects he’d completed in the past year. They laughed over stupid jokes, and she observed Laf staring at him every so often from across the fire. After a while, she nudged him.

“Don’t look now, but Laf’s been staring at you.”

His eyes widened. “No.”

“Yes,” she countered. “You should talk to him.”

“Not tonight,” he said. “If it goes wrong, I don’t want to ruin this.” He gestured around the circle. “But,” he continued, “I’ll do it soon.”

Before she could reply, Peggy had tapped him on the arm, dragging him into her group’s mini game of Truth or Dare, and she turned back to John.

“Hey,” she murmured, stretching up to place a kiss on his cheek. “Do you like my friends?”

“Yeah, they’re pretty nice,” he said, wrapping his arm around her shoulders. “Tonight was fun.

“Yeah,” she agreed, leaning her head against his arm as her gaze traveled around the circle, taking in the happy faces of all her friends. “It was.”


	10. Snowball Fight

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Fights are only fun when they involve snow.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Yeee okay I've been looking forward to writing this one so I hope you enjoy. (Also, side note, it's actually really hard writing two Johns in the same chapter. Wow. I have to be so specific.) Ft. shameless Lams kisses because I'm a mess and it works.
> 
> Hopefully I don't die this week while writing? I have some stuff to do but I think I'll be okay.
> 
> Trying that perspective change in this chapter. Tell me what you think.

Eliza and Peggy had offered everyone the option to stay the night, and almost everyone had, besides Maria, who had needed to get home to her daughter, and Aaron and Theo, who had some sort of appointment the next morning. They had promised to come back later, though. So Angelica woke up beside Peggy on Sunday morning. Her neck was stiff from laying in an odd position for most of the night, but she was happy. She got up carefully, trying not to wake her youngest sister, and grabbed a sweatshirt from her suitcase before stepping out into the hallway. 

She could smell pancakes and coffee, and hushed voices were coming from the kitchen as she made her way down the carpeted hall. She walked into the brightly lit room, seeing Eliza and Hercules standing at the counter in flour-covered aprons. Alex sat at the table, a notebook open beside him as he typed something out on his laptop, and John- Angelica’s John; it was getting kind of confusing, having two Johns in the house- sat across from him.

“Morning guys,” she said, pulling her sweater over her head as she yawned. “Is there any coffee?”

Eliza gestured to the counter beside her. “Over there, probably, if Alex didn’t drink it all by now.”

Alex’s head shot up, an offended look on his face. “Hey!”

Angelica laughed. “It’s true, don’t deny it,” she shot back as she poured herself a cup and sat down beside her boyfriend. He ran a hand over her shoulder as she sipped her drink.

“So what are we doing today?” Herc asked, pouring more pancake batter into rounded patches on the hot surface of the griddle. “You know, something with all of us again, now that Angelica’s back.”

Eliza hummed, looking out the kitchen window as she poured more coffee grounds into the machine. She whipped around, grinning wickedly.

“We should have a snowball fight,” she said excitedly, glancing around the room at everyone in turn.

Herc whistled. “Now there’s a good idea,” he said, flipping the golden pancakes over carefully. “I haven’t had a good snowball fight since we were in college.”

John Laurens walked into the room soon after, accompanied by Lafayette. Herc fell silent, directing his gaze back at the pancakes sizzling on the griddle. No one else seemed to notice the change.

“What’s this about a snowball fight?” John said, nicking a pancake from the dish on the counter before Eliza could slap his hand away and make him take a plate. He grinned and sat down on Alex’s lap, shoving the man’s computer away from him and wrapping his arms around his boyfriend’s neck. “Because I’m totally down.”

“I am as well,” Laf piped in, pulling out his phone while shifting out of the doorway as Peggy bounced into the kitchen, making a beeline for a pancakes.

“How much did I miss?” she mumbled through a mouthful of food.

Angelica shot her a reproving look. “We were planning a snowball fight,” she replied. “And don’t talk with your mouth full.”

Her face lit up, and she swallowed her pancake before speaking. “Whichever team I’m on, I call the snowfort,” she declared, before shoving more pancakes into her mouth.

Alex poked his head out from behind John’s shoulder, his arms wrapped around his boyfriend’s torso. “How are we picking teams?” he asked, shifting as much as he could to see Angelica better.

“We can draw names,” she replied, glancing around. “Is that good with everyone?”

They all nodded. Laf looked up from his phone. “Can I invite Thomas and James?” he asked, pausing as he stared at Angelica.

“Yes,” she replied, at the same time Alex shouted “No!” and nearly shoved John off his lap as he stood up. Angelica turned to him, eyebrows raised.

“And why not?” she asked, crossing her arms over her chest. 

Alex shot her a glare. “Because I hate him,” he said, as if that explained everything. He turned back to Laf, who was still staring expectantly at the two of them. “But I kind of want to hit him in the face with a snowball, so go ahead.”

“I was going to do it whether you approved or not, mon ami,” he muttered, typing rapidly on his phone. 

Angelica reached across the table and grabbed Alex’s notebook, ignoring the indignant cry from the man as she tore a page from the back.

“Okay,” she said, settling back into her chair and scribbling names onto the paper before tearing it into pieces. “Herc, Eliza, Alex, Peggy…”

Laf held up his phone. “Thomas says he and James are coming,” he interjected. “So you can put their names in too.”

Peggy stepped forward, leaning her elbows on the back of her sister’s chair. “And don’t forget Aaron and Theo; they said they’d be back later.”

Angelica nodded silently, continuing to write for a few seconds before spreading the pieces out in front of her, face-down, and counting them.

“We have twelve people, so we can split ourselves evenly,” she said. She pulled her hands across the pieces, scrambling them up before turning to her boyfriend. “Pick two.”

He did so, flipping them over and reading the names. “Lafayette and John Laurens.”

Angelica turned to the two of them. “Okay, you guys are the team leaders, so you can pick the next people.”

Laurens stepped forward, pulling a slip of paper from the pile. “Peggy,” he read. “Alright, we get the fort!” They two of them high-fived, both smirking.

Lafayette pulled his slip from the pile. “Hercules,” he said quietly, glancing up at the man in question.

Herc paled, glancing at Angelica for a brief moment before he nodded, not meeting Laf’s eyes. Angelica rolled her eyes. She wanted to slap them both.

They picked teams quickly, sometimes lamenting over their teammates- Alex and Thomas were together, by some stroke of fate- and other times celebrating- Angelica ended up with both of her sisters, meaning she got the snow fort as well. James and Theo had also joined Laf’s side, along with Thomas and Alex, and Burr had been chosen to be with both Johns and the Schuylers. The group had finally decided to call the two of them by their last names; it was less confusing that way.

The two teams broke off into separate rooms while they waited for their absent members, and discussed strategy. Once everyone had arrived -Aaron and Theo looked happy, Angelica noted, but she didn’t dwell on that thought for too long- the group tugged on their winter gear while throwing playful insults at one another.

Well, mostly playful. But Alex and Thomas would always be exceptions.

They decided on ten minutes to prepare, and ALex and Herc immediately dove into the snow, packing it together in a haphazard wall that would probably actually be a good defense, if they made it strong enough. Thomas and Laf had started making a pile of snowballs, conversing quietly in French while James and Theo walked around just inside Herc and Alex’s wall, stamping down the snow to form some sort of trench.

On her own side, Eliza and Peggy had set about making a their own stock of snowballs, and the two Johns were scoping out the inside of the fort, deciding if any of them could stand inside and still throw snowballs through the windows. Aaron and Angelica stood off to the side, going over their strategy again.

“So,” Angelica broke in, after they had finished reviewing their plan. “You and Theo looked pretty happy earlier.

Aaron smiled slightly. “Did we?” he mused, but didn’t say anything further, and Angelica decided not to push it. 

Laurens walked up to them, holding a snowball in his hands. “You guys ready?” he asked, smoothing the surface of the packed snow over with his gloves.

Angelica picked up a snowball of her own. “Yup,” she said, glancing over to the other side. “Are they?”

Laurens nodded. “They’re waiting on us.”

Angelica pushed her hat further down over her hair, crouching down in the snow. “Okay,” she said. “Let’s go.”

Laurens grinned, throwing a thumbs up to Laf. “Okay, on the count of three,” he said, crouching down beside Angelica. “Three, two, one, fire!”

. . .

In seconds, the air was full of flying snow, most of it falling short of its intended target. A few hit the walls in front of Alex, not quite making it over. Shouts of glee filled the air, and Theo handed another snowball to Alex, holding her own carefully as they peeked over the edge of the trench. Alex aimed for the back of Angelica’s head while Theo aimed her arm at her husband. 

They threw them at the same time; Alex’s almost hit Angelica before her boyfriend knocked it out of the air, but Burr wasn’t as lucky. He turned just after Theo threw her snowball, and it hit him directly in the face. He sputtered, pushing snow from his face while Angelica cackled beside him. Theo grinned, giving Alex a fist bump before picking up more snowballs, attempting to toss them over the walls of the snow fort.

Alex glanced back at his teammates. James and Herc were making more snowballs, handing them off to Thomas and Laf. Alex hated to admit it, but Jefferson had pretty good aim; he’d hit all three of the Schuylers as well as John Church so far. Laf was doing pretty well too, managing to get most of this shots over the walls of Peggy’s snow fort and hitting the people standing inside.

He turned back to the slowly dwindling snowball pile, grabbing one in each hand before looking over to the other side. He kind of wanted to hit John, both to get back at his boyfriend for pulling him into the snow the other night, and because he couldn’t get Jefferson.

“Who’re you looking for, Alex?”

Alex froze, whipping around and coming face to face with his boyfriend, who stood above him, smirking.

“No fair!” he shouted, scrambling backwards. “You can’t come on this side!”

John stepped closer. “I don’t recall ever making boundaries,” he mused, casting a glance over to his right. “Angelica!” he shouted, waving at the other girl. “Did we ever set a dividing line?”

Alex craned his neck to see over the wall, watching as Angelica snickered and throw another snowball at Laf.

“Nope!” she yelled back, scooping up more snow. “Get him, Laurens.”

John turned back to Alex, grinning wickedly as he stepped over Alex’s ankles, pulling his arm back to chuck the snow at Alex.

Alex took his chance, kicking his legs out so John lost his balance and landed on the snow-covered ground, dropping his snowballs in surprise. The two of them struggled for a few moments, kicking up snow and destroying parts of the wall while their friends continued to throw snowballs around them. Eventually, Alex somehow managed to escape, straddling John’s hips and pinning his hands above his head.

John’s eyes widened, and he struggled against Alex’s grip.

“Not so tough now, hmm?” Alex smirked, cocking an eyebrow as his boyfriend blushed from the neck up.

“Shut up,” he mumbled. “You cheated.”

“I don’t recall any rules being established,” he whispered, leaning down and pressing his lips to John’s snow-covered ones, releasing his wrists to place his hands on either side of John’s head and feeling his boyfriend wrap his arms around his neck, pulling him closer.

“See, this is why we can’t do anything with them, ever,” Peggy shouted. “They always end up in sucking face!”

Alex breathed a laugh against John’s mouth, flipping her off with one hand and hearing her laughter as a pile of snow rained down on them, probably dumped over their heads by Herc. The two of them eventually separated, pulled to their feet by Hercules and Angelica, and the group made their way back inside, debating over who had won. 

“It was definitely us,” Theo grinned, glancing over at Alex and John, covered head to toe in snow. “Alex pinned John at the end.”

They tossed their snow-covered clothes at the door, shaking flakes out of their hair while Eliza started a fire in the living room. The twelve of them crowded into the room, soaking up the warmth from the fireplace and drinking cups of tea that James and Theo had prepared.

Aaron and Theo sat together on one of the couches, his arm curled around her shoulders while she tucked her feet under her legs, and the talked quietly together. Peggy had spread herself out in front of the fire, beside Laf, Jefferson, and Angelica’s boyfriend, and James sat with Eliza, discussing something in a book that Eliza had brought out from her room. Herc and Angelica sat on the opposite end of the room, both of them looking kind of subdued. Alex nudged John.

“Any idea what’s up with Herc?” he asked, jerking his chin in the man’s direction. “He’s been kind of quiet lately.”

John frowned. “Nope,” he said, shaking his head. “But if he wanted us to know, he’d tell us.”

“Mmm, I guess so,” Alex said, not wanting to give up, but knowing that his boyfriend was probably right.

They were silent for a moment, basking in the warmth of the room, both literal and figurative, and then John spoke.

“I love this,” he whispered to Alex after a second, leaning his head on his shoulder and waving his hand around at the group of friends. “It’s so nice.”

“Yeah,” Alex agreed, rubbing his fingers over John’s knuckles. “It is.”


	11. Winter Sickness

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> James and Thomas because that's what would happen.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Wow, guys, over 200 hits?! Thank you so much!
> 
> This fic is what I look forward to every night, even though I stay up late as heck to finish each chapter and don't want to get out of bed the next morning. This is also probably the shortest chapter out of all the ones I have so far. I got home later than usual today, and I'm busy this week, so that might be kind of normal for these next few.

The bedroom was still dark; it was sometime around six in the morning. Large, puffy snowflakes fell outside the window, floating down towards the concrete sidewalks.

James awoke with a pounding headache and hot, sensitive skin. He groaned, shutting his eyes quickly as and burying his face in the cool pillowcase, but even that didn’t do much to help. He tossed it to the side after a few moments, his head spinning with the movement. He pressed shaking hands to his eyes, trying to quell the dizziness.

Of course he had gotten sick; when did he not? He had spent most of the previous day out in the snow, pretty much covered in the stuff. He should have expected, at the very least, a cold, but this kind of sickness wasn’t uncommon for him, either.

All he wanted to do was curl up underneath the blankets and go back to sleep, but he had to go to work. Washington was expecting them all to be there today, since the firm was taking on a few larger cases before the holidays, and they needed to complete a deposition today.

He threw the covers off, going to stand up, and his head spun, sending him back down onto the mattress. He screwed his eyes shut, gritting his teeth while he waited for the dizziness to pass, but it clung to his cotton-filled head, pounding a beat on the inside of his temple.

 _Just a few more minutes,_ he thought, laying down slowly. _I’ll be okay._

A few minutes turned into twenty, and then he fell into a restless sleep, waking only when someone walked into the slowly-lightening room.

“Hey,” a voice whispered beside his ear, and James felt a hand rubbing his waist gently. He shifted away, moaning as his skin prickled uncomfortably.

The hand was removed. “Hey, James, it’s just me,” the voice whispered again. “Are you okay?”

James opened his eyes. Thomas was kneeling next to the bed, concern in his eyes and a slight frown on his face. He was dressed in his usual suit and tie -although the colors were more subdued than usual- and his hair stuck up in perfect curls around his head.

James attempted to sit up, wincing as his head spun again. He did his best to hide it. “Yeah, ‘m fine,” he mumbled, not quite slurring the sentence, but not speaking clearly, either. “What time ‘s it?”

Thomas glanced at his watch. “Almost eight thirty,” he said, then he frowned. “You don’t look too good.”

James glared at him weakly, pressing a hand to his throbbing head. “Thanks,” he said dryly, standing on unsteady feet and leaning against the wall. Thomas stood up in front of him, placing his hands gingerly on James’ shoulders to keep him from falling.

“I think you should stay home,” he said quietly, placing the back of his hand on James’ forehead before pulling it away quickly. “Geez, babe, you’re burning up.”

“I feel fine,” he protested weakly, waving his hands in a shooing motion. “I’m actually cold. Besides, I have to go in today, Washington needs me to do the deposition on that one case.”

“Washington can find someone to do it for you,” Thomas said, sitting on the edge of the mattress and pulling James carefully down with him. “Hell, I’ll do it if it means you stay home and rest.”

James sighed, closing his eyes. His stomach hurt, his head was spinning again, and he wanted to lie down in the dark and not think anymore.

“Fine,” he said shortly, pulling his tingling skin from Thomas’s soft grip. “Just… stop talking? My head hurts.”

“Okay,” Thomas whispered, standing up slowly so as not to shake the bed too much. “I’ll be right back.”

He walked out of the room, and James could hear glass clinking in the kitchen. He laid back down on the sheets, which had cooled considerably in the past ten minutes, and stared at the ceiling as he listened to Thomas moving around in the apartment.

He returned after a short while, holding a few things in his hands. He set a bottle of water down on the nightstand, as well as a bottle of medicine.

“Here,” he said passing a small cup of liquid to James, who took it with shaking hands. “That should help with the fever.”

James drank it quickly, washing the bitter taste away with a few sips of water, and Thomas placed the cup back on the wooden surface.

“You can take that stuff every-” He looked at the label. “-three to four hours.”

He stood up again, smoothing ot the twisted blankets from around James’ legs before walking over to the window. Snowflakes were still falling outside, piling up on the thin ledge outside, and the sun’s bright light shone in through the glass.

“You’re going to be late,” James persisted, albeit reluctantly, as Thomas pulled the curtains shut. The other man walked back towards the bed, sitting down carefully. He leaned down toward James, propping himself up on his hands.

“Don’t,” James murmured, putting out his hand to stop his boyfriend from getting any closer. “I don’t want to get you sick.”

Thomas grinned slightly. “I’ll be fine,” he said, dodging James’ hand and pressing a gentle kiss to his forehead. He straightened. “Text me if you need anything, okay?”

“Okay,” he muttered, shifting under the cool sheets as he watched Thomas walk towards the door.

“Open or closed?” Thomas asked, resting his slender fingers on the doorknob.

“Closed,” James answered, turning over carefully and closing his eyes

“Feel better,” he heard Thomas whisper, and the door clicked shut behind him.

The next few hours, James drifted in and out of sleep. He took sips of water every once in awhile, and doses of the medicine whenever he woke up long enough to look at the clock, and felt marginally better by four in the afternoon.

THe sun had started to sink behind the tall buildings, casting sharp beams of light through the thin curtains once more. It was still snowing, and some of it had started to stick to the glass, frozen in unique patterns across the clear surface.

Thomas came home around five thirty, a little while after James had drifted off to sleep again. He opened the door to the bedroom quietly, peeking in at the dark interior and seeing James asleep once more. He picked a random book of the shelf before settling down in the chair beside the bed and opening to a random page, glancing up every so often to watch James’ even breathing from underneath the covers.

James woke up, a short while later, to the sound of paper being flipped every few minutes. He blinked a few times, his tired eyes adjusting to the dim lamp casting light across the room.

“Hey,” he rasped, his voice rough from disuse. “How long have you been home?”

Thomas startled, looking up from his book, and his gaze softened as he leaned closer.

“About a half hour,” he murmured quietly, smoothing James’ short hair back from his face. “How are you feeling?”

James closed his eyes, contemplating. “Better,” he decided. He opened his eyes again. “Less dizzy.”

Thomas smiled. “That’s good,” he replied, turning to look at the medicine on the table. “Have you been taking this stuff?”

James nodded. “Mhmm,” he hummed, shifting to

“Okay, do you want anything to eat?” Thomas asked, setting his book onto the nightstand and stretching his shoulders backward. “Tea, toast? You haven’t eaten all day, I’m guessing.”

James was silent for a second, and Thomas almost thought he had gone back to sleep. Snow was still falling outside the window; fat, puffy flakes that drifted sleepily towards the ground far below.

“Tea sounds nice,” he murmured, looking up at Thomas and blinking slowly. “And so does toast.”

“Okay,” he said, standing up and turning to walk out of the room. “I’ll be back in a bit.”

“Wait.”

Thomas turned around, raising an eyebrow as James beckoned him back towards the bed.

“Stay,” James whispered, grabbing Thomas’ hand with weak fingers. “Just for a bit.”

“Of course,” he breathed, readjusting their hands as he laid down, wrapping his long arms around the shorter man’s waist and resting his chin on his shoulder.

“Anything for you.”


	12. Christmas Tree

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Getting a Christmas tree + lots of inner thoughts.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Festiveness is beginning, my friends! Time for some actual decorations! (And more Lams, because my friend says that we always need more of them.) (Also, my chapter summaries are very basic, I know, but I've never been too good at summaries.)
> 
> Featuring: my high quality research on buying Christmas trees in New York (which I have no idea if it's accurate; I'm kind of basing this off my experience) and suggestive lines that don't turn into anything because I am a Pure Child. (TM)

_The worst days,_ John thought, _are the days when it’s freezing, but there’s no snow._

The sun had set behind the tall buildings, and the streetlights cast wide shadows across the pavement as the two of them walked along the ice-covered sidewalks. Most people had scattered rock salt across the concrete, but a few patches of ice stubbornly remained, sending those who walked over it sliding a good few feet. The bitter air whipped across their faces, biting at strips of exposed skin.

They walked along the quieter streets, past apartments with balconies adorned with blinking lights of all colors and windows alight with silhouettes of laboriously decorated Christmas trees. Their boots crunched across the snow and salt-covered path, and the faint sound of cars honking could be heard in the distance.

“You know, I don’t see why we have to do this tonight,” John voiced aloud, shivering. “Why couldn’t we have done this on, like, Friday, or something?”

“Because Washington forced me to take a day off tomorrow since I did most of James’ deposition yesterday,” Alex answered, pulling his hat further over his ears. “And he banned me from working on anything related to my cases. Ergo, I figured we could decorate the apartment, since I’ll be bored out of my mind.”

John glanced over at his boyfriend, nudging him as they walked. “I could suggest a few other things that would cure your boredom,” he smirked, cocking an eyebrow.

Alex looked down, biting his lower lip as he blushed while his face went redder than it had already been from the cold. “Shut up,” he mumbled, flustered, as he shoved John’s shoulder with his own. John went sliding across a particularly large patch of ice, righting himself before he fell over.

“Hey, I meant, like, watching movies or something,” he protested, putting his hands up in an innocent gesture. The effect was ruined by his slowly widening smirk.

“Sure you did,” Alex muttered, face still red. “Oh look, we’re here.”

John glanced up at the wooden sign above their heads, proclaiming the entrance to a small Christmas tree lot. Various sizes of trees stood propped against rows of wood, branches covered in a light dusting of snow and marked with different-colored ribbons. Wreaths were tacked to the wall of a small building, and cream-colored fairy lights were strung between vertical poles, casting a faint glow across the enclosed space.

A few families milled around inside; a young couple holding hands, a man and a woman with two older, but not quite teenage, girls wandering behind them, and a dark-haired woman holding the hand of a small girl beside her.

Alex raised his hand from his side, gesturing to the woman and her daughter.

“Isn’t that the girl who Theo invited to the bonfire the other night?” he asked, glancing at John.

John followed Alex’s gaze. “Yeah,” he said. “She’s the one Eliza was talking to, blushing the entire time.”

Alex furrowed his eyebrows. “Wait, really?”

John laughed at his confused expression. “Yeah, you didn’t notice?” He paused. “Wait, no, of course you didn’t. You were too busy arguing with Burr.”

Alex glared at him, but didn’t dispute the remark. He looked over at the woman again.

“Do you think we should say hi?” he wondered, switching his weight from one foot to the other.

“I don’t know,” John sighed. “If you want to, I guess. We don’t know her that well, though.”

The decision was made for them when the woman turned slightly, watching as her daughter sprinted over to another tree. She looked up for a second, glancing in their direction, and her face lit up slightly when she caught sight of them. She raised a hand in a half-wave before following her daughter and crouching down beside her, talking in a quiet voice while nodding and picking up the small tree the girl had obviously chosen. She aimed a grin their way as she walked away.

“I can’t remember her name,” Alex muttered, frowning. “I think it started with an M?”

“You can ask Eliza later,” John replied, catching his boyfriend’s elbow in his hand. “Now come on, let’s do this. I’m freezing.”

The two of them wandered through the rows of trees for a while, forgetting the cold as they kicked snow at one another and pointed out trees they liked. They stuck around the smaller sizes that would actually fit in their apartment even as Alex jokingly tried to convince John to get one of the natural-growing, twenty-foot tall trees that surrounded the lot.

“Those wouldn’t even come close to fitting in our apartment, Alexander,” he sighed for what felt like the hundredth time, but in reality was probably only the fifth. “And even if they did, they’re not for sale. Plus, we have to carry it home.”

Alex pouted. “Well, when we get married, we’ll just have to buy a house where they’ll actually fit, then,” he declared, grinning, as they turned into the next row of trees. John nearly stopped walking as Alex continued. “Hey, what about this one?”

But John wasn’t paying attention, still stuck on those four words.

_When we get married…_

Did Alex really mean it? They’d been together for a while… Was Alex seriously thinking about spending the rest of his life with John? Or was it one of those things he said as a passing comment, something that John shouldn’t dwell on for too long?

He glanced up, staring at his boyfriend for a few seconds. He didn’t seem too bothered by the comment, but then again, Alex probably didn’t register half the words that came out of his mouth on a daily basis, with exceptions being made when he was in court.

“John? Did you see this one?”

John shook the thought from his head as he took a few steps forward, stopping in front of the tree Alex was pointing to.

It was tall enough, he figured, that it wouldn’t look too small in their living room, but short enough that it wouldn’t scrape the ceiling or be difficult to carry up a few flights of stairs.

“I think this is the one,” he said, picking it up out of the metal holding it still at the bottom. “Help me carry it?”

They made their way to the makeshift register near the entrance, smiling at the man who stood behind it, bundled in heavy winter clothing. They paid quickly and began the walk back.

It was decidedly much more difficult to walk on ice when you were carrying a fifty-pound tree.

“Why did I think this would be a good idea?” Alex grumbled from behind John as they reached their apartment, slowly making their way up the front steps. “There are so many stairs.”

It took a few minutes, but they somehow managed to maneuver the tree up three flights of stairs without either of them falling. They set it up in the living room, pushing a chair that held a pile of Alex books out of the way so they could place it in the far corner, and stood back to admire their work.

“That was fun,” Alex said, grinning as he turned to John.

“Yeah, now we just need to find all the ornaments and lights and stuff,” John replied, walking towards the bedroom. “The apartment’s going to smell like pine needles for the rest of the month.”

Alex followed close behind, sliding his arms around John’s waist as he caught up to him.

“What were you saying about ‘other activities?’” he murmured into John’s neck, his lips soft against the skin. John stepped away, raising an eyebrow.

“Nope, I seem to recall you shoving me across some ice when you rejected that idea,” he said smugly. “Besides, I said tomorrow. And I’m tired now.”

“Fine, tomorrow,” Alex said, yawning. “I’m gonna hold you to that, John Laurens.”

They changed into pajamas, sliding beneath the sheets and automatically curling around each other, whispering goodnights in the dark room. After a few minutes, Alex’s breathing evened out while John lay awake, staring at the wall and thinking about Alex’s words from earlier.

_When we get married…_

He didn’t know if Alex was serious.

_Do I want him to be?_

John shook his head quickly. _Of course I do; I love him._

_But am I ready for that?_

He liked to think he was.

He sighed. He’d deal with it when they got there. If they got there.

He turned over, his forehead close to touching Alex’s as his boyfriend’s chest rose and fell with his soft breaths, and John’s eyes closed on the dark room.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I forced myself not to add extra angst.


	13. Christmas Decorations

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Decorating for the holidays. Mostly fluff, with some actual plot.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Whoa, I'm already halfway done with this... It doesn't feel like it's been two weeks.
> 
> Also, I realized that I never explicitly mentioned this, but Laf is a model. (I had it in my mini character notes, but I never mentioned it until now.)
> 
> This was... very long. I like focusing on one or two sets of characters at a time, so this was one of the more difficult ones to write. I hope you enjoy it though.

The large house glowed with a warm light, outlining the figures of two people walking around inside. The wind blew gently outside, shaking the branches of the barren trees that lined the path up to the steps, where a large wreath rested in the center of the large wooden door.

George had always loved December. It was finally cold enough that he didn’t have to deal with the almost unbearably hot temperatures that came with the summer and part of autumn, and he could wear his warmest coat to the office every day. The month came with a lighter attitude despite the freezing cold weather, and a lot of people baked delicious holiday cookies.

But his favorite part by far was the decorating.

He and Martha had always gotten a large Christmas tree every year they had been married, which they covered in silver and red decorations, save for the blinking colored lights that added a bit of playfulness to the otherwise simple color scheme. More strings of lights lined the edges of the windows in the living room, casting their muted glow into wide circles on the snow outside.

All the nice ornaments came out, the ones that thay’d taken especially good care of over the years. A few glass angels were hung carefully near the top branches, and elaborately decorated baubles were strung between strands of garland. Thin wisps of tinsel found their way into every room in the house no matter how cautious they were when they brought it out.

The old record player in the corner crackled with classic holiday music as they decorated, stopping every so often to flip over a record or put a new one on.

Once the lights were string around the tree and positioned evenly, George opened the first box of ornaments, handing a few to his wife before taking two in his own hands. They worked silently together, side by side as a few instrumental songs played quietly in the background. George walked back and forth from the box on the table, picking up a few of the small decorations before making his way back to the tree.

Marth smiled at him, reaching a hand out and gesturing for him to hand her another of the clear glass ornaments that laid in one of the boxes.

george put down the beaded ornaments that had rested in his fingers and took Martha’s hands in his own. Her eyes widened in surprise as he began to twirl with her, neatly avoiding the stacks of boxes as they stepped around the room. One song transitioned into the next, and eventually the record ended, the couple slowing to a stop in the center of the room and sharing a chaste kiss before returning to the half-decorated tree.

Soon enough, they were done. The empty boxes were stacked neatly in the guest bedroom, overflowing with crumpled tissue paper and various lengths of bubble wrap, and the couple sat together, admiring their handiwork and spending a quiet moment in the warmth

 

* * *

 

“It shouldn’t be this hard to decorate a Christmas tree,” Alex groaned, untangling yet another knot from the string of lights. “Do we even know if these work, by the way?”

John shrugged. “I dunno,” he answered, standing up from where he was seated with his back against the couch and picking up the end of Alex’s string. “I guess there’s only one way to find out.”

He walked over to the side of the couch, bending down and sticking the plug into the wall outlet. The string lit up in an array of different colors. John looked up, staring at the bundle that Alex held in his hands that had cast a rainbow glow onto his face.

“Yup, they work,” he said, pulling the plug from the wall. “Want me to start wrapping them?”

“Yeah, I still have to untangle all these anyway,” Alex muttered.

The two of them had gotten up late that morning, after entertaining each other for awhile, and Alex had demanded coffee if he was going to resist the temptation to do work that day. They had ended up digging the Christmas decorations out from the bottom of a closet -John wasn’t exactly sure where- and it had taken almost an hour to untangle one string of lights. But that mostly because Alex kept getting distracted with John sitting next to him.

John tucked one end of the lights into the top of the tree, balancing on his toes in order to reach up and wrap the rest around the branches. But it turned out that stringing lights without someone else to help was an arduous task, and John found himself inexplicably tangled in light cords.

He frowned, attempting to free himself by winding the free end of the lights back around the cord wrapped around his body, but it only seemed to knot itself more, restricting his movements even further, and he sighed.

“Uh, Alex? A little help?”

John couldn’t see his boyfriend’s face, but he could hear Alex snort and start laughing, not making any movement to aid John in his predicament.

“Come on, Alex, it’s not that funny.”

“But it is,” he wheezed between breaths, still laughing. “You look like you tried to decorate yourself.”

“I know someone else who wanted to decorate me this morning,” he muttered under his breath, and he heard Alex choke on air.

He soon felt gentle hands on his back, unwrapping the lights from around his body until he could move freely again, and he gave up on trying to do the lights by himself, instead helping Alex untangle the knots in the other cords.

They finished decorating the entire tree in a few hours, after several more mishaps with tangled lights and broken ornaments, and they collapsed onto the couch again, nearly on each others’ laps.

“That,” Alex sighed, leaning his head on John’s legs, “was a disaster.”

John leaned down, pressing a kiss to Alex’s forehead. “I think it looks nice.”

Alex gazed up at him. “I think you look nice,” he said smirking. “Especially this morning, when-”

John smacked him. “I told you to shut up!”

 

* * *

 

Maria tugged a box out from the top shelf of the closet, balancing it on her knee as she opened the lid.

“Finally,” she muttered, sighing as she set it down carefully onto the floor and reached up for the second one.

Susan had been begging her mother to let her decorate the Christmas tree since they had gotten it the night before, and Maria had agreed to do it tonight after she got off work. And of course the boxes with the Christmas decorations had to be on the top shelf, underneath everything else that was stacked inside. It had taken her fifteen minutes just to get to the two she needed.

She pushed the boxes into the living room, where her daughter was jumping around excitedly.

“Do we get to put the lights on now?” she asked, eyes gleaming.

Maria smiled. “Yes, sweetheart,” she replied, pulling out carefully wrapped bundles of lights. “Here, take this end.”

Maria stood still, holding her end of the string near the top of the small tree while her daughter walked in circles around it, reaching between the branches to arrange the lights how she wanted them and plugging one strand into another when she got to the end of a string. They plugged the last end into the wall, and Susan stared at the twinkling lights for a few moments before turning back to her mother.

“Can I put on ornaments now?” she asked.

“Yes, they’re in the other box,” Maria said, tucking the extra lights back into the first box and pushing it to the side.

Most of the ornaments in said box were of her daughter’s own creation; multicolored paper chains, small candles and wreaths cut from paper and colored in with crayons, and a few pictures glued to winter themed frames, and a few of them were actual ornaments, glass ones, baubles decorated with beads, and a couple of metal birds that clipped to the branches.

“Wait! I have something else to put on,” her daughter announced, running to her bedroom and returning after a second, holding a set of paper snowflakes in her hands.

“Miss Eliza helped me make these,” she said cheerfully, holding them up for her mother to see. The snowflakes had clearly been cut by a small child’s hands, and were covered in silver and gold glitter. Susan placed them proudly on the tree, making sure the glittery side faced the room.

“Okay, one last thing.” Maria opened a small cardboard box that lay nestled in bubble wrap, taking out a gold metal star and handing it to her daughter.

“I’ll pick you up, and you can put it on top” she said, crouching down and placing her hands under her daughter’s arms. She lifted the girl, holding her steady so she could place the star on the last branch at the top before setting her down again.

“Done!” her daughter shouted, throwing her hands in the air. “It looks so pretty!”

“Yeah, baby, you did a good job,” Maria said, smiling as her daughter wrapped her arms around her waist. “It’s perfect.”

 

* * *

 

John and Eliza stood on chairs on either side of the large pine tree in the living room, carefully wrapping strings of popcorn around the top of the tree, slowly working their way down. Angelica and Peggy were in the dining room, the former carefully stringing popcorn onto waxed thread with a large needle while the latter sat on top of the table, swinging her legs as she argued with her sister.

“Okay, but what if we ate all of this instead?” Peggy asked, sneaking a few more pieces from the huge bowl that sat on the polished wood. “That would be way more fun.”

“No,” Angelica said, sticking her needle through another piece of popcorn before slapping her sister’s hand away from the bowl. “You can eat whatever’s left at the end.”

Peggy sighed, slouching her shoulders and throwing her head back. “You’re no fun,” she muttered.

Angelica glanced up. “If you want to do something, you can go help Eliza and John put the ones we’ve already made onto the tree,” she said, gesturing to the pile of finished popcorn strings draped across the chair. She took a sip of her wine before grabbing another handful of popcorn. “And no, you can’t eat those, either.”

Peggy sighed again, louder, but hopped off the table and gathered the strings of popcorn in her arms before walking into the living room.

Eliza eventually returned to the dining room, picking up Peggy’s half-finished popcorn string and adding a few more pieces.

“I like your boyfriend,” she said offhandedly, sticking the needle through the popcorn. “He’s really nice.”

Angelica looked up. “I think you scared him a bit,” she muttered. “With your shovel talk.”

Eliza laughed. “That’s my job. I’m your sister; it’s a rule that I get to threaten any guy you bring home.”

They were silent for a moment, before Angelica changed the subject.

“So, who was that girl that Theo invited to the bonfire the other night?”

She didn’t miss the faint blush on Eliza’s cheeks as she nearly poked her finger with the needle instead of the popcorn. “Just a friend.”

“You two seemed to get on pretty well,” she commented, stringing a few more pieces onto her thread while glancing into the living room at her sister and her boyfriend, both of whom were wrapping more popcorn around the tree. “Anything you want to tell me?”

Eliza didn’t say anything, the only sound being the slight crunch of popcorn as they pushed it along the strings. “Let’s finish this popcorn before Peggy eats the ones on the tree.”

Angelica raised an eyebrow, but didn’t push it.

“Good idea.”

 

* * *

 

Herc stood alone in his apartment, quietly surveying the green and red fabric he had hooked around the room, vanilla-colored lights entwined throughout the cloth and casting transparent circles of colored light evenly along the walls. A small christmas tree stood in the corner,a fake one that he’d had for a few years, and a few candles sat on the table in the kitchen, sending shapeless shadows flickering across the floor.

It was simple, but perfect.

Herc sighed, sitting heavily down on the couch, picking up his sketchbook and a pencil. He’d been thinking too much over the past week, replaying the scene with Laf over and over in his head, trying to figure out just what the hell had happened that night. Angelica’s suggestion prodded at the back of his mind, but he pushed it away. She hadn’t seen the look on Laf’s face; she didn’t know what had happened.

He glanced down at the paper underneath his fingers, taking in the rough lines he had sketched in the past few minutes. A suit, of some sort, fitting on a figure that looked suspiciously like a certain Frenchman. He shook his head, quickly tearing out the page and placing it between the last page and the back cover of the sketchbook before closing his eyes.

He would be lucky if Laf ever wanted to talk to him again.

. . .

Lafayette sat on the couch, staring at the extravagantly decorated tree that stood in the center of the room. Strings of lights dangled from the high ceiling, and forest green garlands were wrapped around the railing leading up the staircase. Adrienne had worked on it the entire day, forcing him to help her with the decorating, and he had done whatever she directed him to do.

He must have zoned out for a little too long, gazing at all the blinking lights and thinking about the events of the week prior, and he didn’t notice Adrienne walking over and standing in front of him with her hands planter firmly on her hips.

“You need to stop moping, mon coeur, and go talk to him.”

“Non,” he argued, tearing his eyes away from the lights to look at her. “He does not wish to speak to me.”

“Tu ne sais pas,” she shot back, rolling her eyes. “From what you have told me, he did not say anything before you ran out.”

Lafayette glared at her, but some small part of him knew she was right.

She knew about what went on between him and Hercules; she had seen the light bruises across his skin and the nail marks on his back one night at a modeling job and had pestered him about it until he spilled everything. So she knew about the fact that Lafayette was in love with his friend, and had held him that night the week prior when he had come home, shaken to the core over what he’d done.

She glared back for a second before her gaze softened, and she turned to walk back up the stairs.

“Do what you wish,” she said, not looking at him. “I still think you should talk to him.”

She disappeared into her room, the door clicking shut behind her, and Lafayette sat on the couch, alone with his thought and once again staring at the lights on the tree. After a moment he stood.

“Cur non?” he whispered, pulling on his jacket.

. . .

Hercules had moved to the kitchen table, a few fabric swatches spread out across the surface as he debated which one would be best for Peggy’s shirt. He was just pulling out the papers that had her measurements when he heard a quiet knock at the door, the hollow sound echoing through the apartment.

He glanced at the clock, confused. No one visited this late, except one person, and that person probably didn’t want to talk to him. He stood up, walking over to the door and unlocking it before swinging it open.

Laf stood in the hall, a long wool coat wrapped around his shoulders and cheeks red from the bitter winter air. Herc took a step backwards, releasing his hold on the door as Laf stepped inside, shutting it behind him.

“Laf, I-” he started, not knowing what exactly he wanted to say but hoping that the words would come out in the right order. How did Alex know what the hell he was saying all the time?

He didn’t get past those two words before a pair of hands was on his shoulders, drawing him in to the warm pressure of familiar lips against his own. He melted into the touch, any inhibitions he had draining away. Months of habit took over on instinct as he wrapped one arm around Laf’s waist and brought the other to his neck, pulling him even closer. He felt the solid pressure of a wall against his back, Laf’s hands traveling up to his face and back down, trailing over clothes that were now in the way.

The were drunk off each other, minds hazy with what had been missing for a week, not paying attention to the whispers in their heads that sounded like Angelica and Adrienne. They made their way down the hall, discarding coats and shirts as they went and reveling in each whisper of fingers across tender skin as they shifted together, not separating for a second.

Hours later, laying in the darkness, Herc couldn’t think of anything to say. He didn’t know what to say.

Laf stood suddenly, gathering what clothes were his from the scattered objects on the floor, putting them back on in silence. Herc watched as he covered the raised marks on his back, pulled his shirt over the purple spots across his neck and collarbone. And then he left.

And they didn’t talk about it.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> It's almost midnight and this took WAY longer than I expected, so Burr/Theo and Thomas/James are probably going to be added this weekend.


	14. Window Shopping

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> The sisters spend a day out in the city.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hi! My orchestra concert was tonight, so I'm starting this about an hour later than I usually do. Sorry for the late night updates; school takes up so much time.
> 
> I hope the formatting was right in the last chapter... I kinda edited it at midnight, so... AND I will be adding a little more to that one, probably this weekend, so that'll be fun.

A few stray snowflakes fell from the wispy clouds outside the window, but not much more than a dusting of snow came down onto the darkened city streets. The lights from the Christmas tree reflected off the windows, small dots of red and green and blue and orange sparkling against the night sky outside.

Eliza stood patiently at at the front door, her thick winter coat wrapped around her body and her favorite pair of gloves covering her fingers. She wasn’t used to being the first one ready; that was usually Angelica. Her sister was always prepared, always early. Eliza figured that was because she didn’t want to be seen as unreliable

She had just begun debating whether or not she should go find her sisters when Peggy walked slowly out from her bedroom, staring down at the phone she had clutched in her hands as she typed rapidly with her thumbs. She didn’t look up until she almost ran into Eliza, who put her hands out to heep her sister from falling.

“Who’re you texting?” she questioned, stretching her neck out to try and catch a glimpse of Peggy’s screen. Her sister noticed, angling the phone away and clicking the power button before Eliza could read the contact name.

“Just a friend,” she replied, shoving the device into the pocket of her coat as she tugged it over her arms and pulled a scarf from the basket beside the door. “She’s coming shopping with us tonight.”

Eliza hummed in agreement. “Any chance I get to know the name of this friend?” she asked.

Peggy shook her head. “Nope,” she declared, popping the ‘p.’ She paused for a second. “Where’s Angelica?”

The third Schuyler sister came striding into the room almost before Peggy had finished her question, typing something short on her phone before shoving it in her jacket. She pulled out her keys, twirling them around her finger as she walked.

“I’m here, let’s go,” she announced, brushing past Eliza and opening the door. Peggy followed closely behind her while Eliza trailed behind, wondering what her sisters weren’t telling her.

The three of them had decided to do their holiday shopping that night, after Eliza and Peggy had come home from work, and they drove a short while to an outdoor mall with dozens of small shops that sold everything from homemade candles to loose-leaf teas. They listened to their favorite holiday music quietly in the background while they caught up more on each others’ lives, and every so often, Peggy’s phone would chime with an incoming text. She read them all while turning slightly away from Eliza, making it so her sister couldn’t read any of the messages.

Eliza tried not to dwell on it too much; sure, they told each other everything, but her sisters were entitled to secrets, especially around the holidays. So a few missing details wouldn’t hurt, right?

Eventually, Angelica pulled into a small parking lot, a few other cars scattered across the pavement in various spots. They walked towards the entrances of the shops, laughing and joking the entire way. They stopped in front of a shop proclaiming hand-knitted blankets, and Peggy continued to type aggressively on her phone before looking up.

“She’ll be here in a minute,” she announced, glancing down at her phone again. “She just has to park.”

The stood in the chilly air for a few minutes,

Eliza heard footsteps approaching again, but this time they stopped, and Peggy began speaking with the newcomer. Eliza turned around to introduce herself to Peggy’s mysterious friend, but the greeting caught in her throat as she took in the face of the woman standing beside her sister.

Maria stood a few feet away from her, dark hair tumbling down her shoulders underneath a warm-looking hat, and her hands were shoved in her coat pockets. A red bag was slung over her shoulder, and a matching color was spread evenly over her lips. Her dark eyes sparkled along with the gentle smile on her face, and her lips quirked up into a small grin.

Eliza realized she was staring, and quickly tore her gaze away from the other woman before looking back up again.

She cleared her throat. “It’s nice to see you again,” she managed,

“You two have fun,” Peggy whispered in Eliza’s ear, taking a step closer and squeezing her sister’s gloved hand in her own before dropping it again. Her younger sister smirked, raising her eyebrows suggestively before she walked past Eliza, muttering something to Angelica that she didn’t quite catch.

It took a few seconds for Eliza to register the words, but when she finally did, and whipped around to ask Peggy what the heck she thought she was doing, her sisters were gone and two heads of curly hair were disappearing around the corner of the path beside a few shops.

Eliza turned slowly back around, trying to think of something to say. “I um… I guess it’s just us then?”

Maria smiled. “Yeah,” she replied, looking up at Eliza. “So, which shops do you want to hit first?”

“Well, I have to get some things for my sisters, and there’s this one shop that sells really nice lotion,” she said, glancing up. “Would you mind if we started there?”

“Not at all,” Maria said smoothly, brushing her hair back over her shoulder. “But I’m not really familiar with this place, so lead the way.”

They ended up wandering through the winding paths of the mall for a while as they made their way towards their destination. They paused every few steps to admire the lavish displays set up in the large glass windows of the stores and observe the carefully arranged decorations on the trees outside. They stopped in shops that caught their attention, looking around for a few minutes and warming their chilly hands before going back out into the cold.

“So,” Maria started, once they had stepped out of a candy shop carrying small red and green-striped bags on their wrist. “We didn’t really talk that much at the bonfire last week.”

_Because I was too busy being a blushing idiot with a schoolgirl crush,_ Eliza thought.

“No we didn’t,” she said aloud, turning her head to face Maria as they walked. “What did you want to know?”

Maria’s lips twisted in concentration. “What’s your favorite holiday tradition?” she asked, grinning slightly.

Eliza laughed, pulling the strap of her back further up on her shoulder. “Hmm,” she mused, glancing up at the lights string across the tops of the buildings, winding over their heads. “I’d have to say decorating with my sisters. We’ve done it ever since we were little, and Peggy always wants to eat the popcorn we string for the tree.”

Maria laughed, putting a hand over her mouth. “That sounds like fun. Susan and I just decorated yesterday, too. She put the snowflakes she made on the tree.”

Eliza smiled. “Yeah, she was excited to bring those home,” she said. “She’s a really sweet kid.”

“I’m glad,” Maria murmured, glancing over at Eliza. “I would hope she wouldn’t be rude in class.”

“How could she be?” Eliza questioned. “I mean, she’s got the the best mom to learn from.”

Maria blushed slightly, and changed the topic.

By the time they made it to the other side of the mall, they had stopped in no less than fifteen other stores, gotten peppermint hot chocolate from a small kiosk, and had at least seven shopping bags combined. They stepped into the last shop, engulfed in warmth and various scents from the products lining the shelves.

Eliza stepped around the shop, reading the labels wrapped around the different containers before picking one up.

“Ooh, here, try this one,” she said, turning and holding out a bottle of vanilla-scented lotion. “This one’s my favorite.”

Maria looked over at Eliza and then down at her own hands.

“I can’t,” she said, taking a few steps forward. “My hands are full.”

Eliza slid her own bags off her wrists, clicking open the cap and grabbing Maria’s hands in her own. “It’s okay, I’ll do it.”

She had squeezed out a dot of the creamy product and started spreading it across Maria’s skin before she realized just exactly she was doing, and she hoped that she wasn’t blushing too much. She could smell the faint scent of a flowery perfume, and felt Maria’s gentle breaths against her face as the other girl exhaled.

Eliza stepped back, taking a breath as she picked the bottle back up. “There you go,” she said, turning away quickly as she felt heat creeping up her face. “I think I’m going to buy a few of these; I’ll be right back.”

Once she had paid for the lotions and calmed her racing pulse somewhat, she and Maria stepped back outside and made their way towards the entrance again. They made light conversation the entire way back, and Eliza managed not to stutter over any of her sentences. At some point, Maria even asked for her number, saying that she wanted to talk to Eliza more instead of having limited conversation when the entire group hung out together.

They stopped just under the archway that led out to the parking lot, where Angelica and Peggy were standing a few feet away against the side of one of the shops.

“Text me?” Maria said, hugging Eliza before stepping back. Eliza nodded, smiling at the girl as she waved at Angelica and Peggy before walking away.

“Sooooo, how’d it go?” Peggy smirked once Maria was out of earshot, waggling her eyebrows at Eliza. Angelica was texting again, not paying attention to the conversation between her sisters.

“Fine,” Eliza said, not looking at her younger sister as they walked back towards the car. “We talked about stuff.”

Peggy groaned. “Thanks, that’s so specific, ‘Liz,” she said, rolling her eyes.

“Hey, you’re the one who left me alone with her,” Eliza shot back, raising an eyebrow. “It’s not my fault you weren’t there to witness it.”

Peggy groaned again, swinging her bags around her wrists. “Fine, don’t tell me anything,” she muttered, but Eliza could tell she wasn’t really mad from the satisfied smirk curling at the edges of her mouth.

By the time they made it home, it was late, and all Eliza wanted to do was go to bed. She hid her gift purchases carefully in her closet, pulling out the bottle of lotion and setting it on her wardrobe in the corner of her room. She changed into pajamas and climbed into bed, pulling the soft blankets over her freezing skin as she closed her eyes.

As she drifted off to sleep, the scent of vanilla and flowery perfume clouded her mind, along with images of a figure with curly hair and a red-lipped smile.


	15. Candy Canes

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Peggy has an addiction to sugar.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This one's all fluff, guys.
> 
> Ten more days! Thank you all so much for the positive feedback! It makes me so happy, knowing that people enjoy reading what I write.

A light dusting of snow fell outside the large windows of the dance studio, covering the sidewalk like powdered sugar. Cars passed by as the sun set between the tall skyscrapers, their windows fogged up from the warm air inside. Christmas music played in the lobby, soothing background noise that warmed the room up just a little bit more. A few parents sat in the plastic chairs, talking quietly in hushed voices while scrolling through their phones. 

Peggy and Theo had scheduled extended rehearsals for this Friday and next, although the kids didn’t really need them. They always payed attention and practiced on their own time, and Peggy thought that they would be perfectly fine at their performances the following weekend.

They finished their stretches and Peggy changed the music, more upbeat stuff to get them moving. It was cold, even with the heat on, and they couldn’t dance properly if their legs were freezing. The group did a few more warmups before running their routine, picking out small details to fix before running it again.

After Peggy was satisfied with the changes, she bounced to the front of the room, clapping her hands.

“Okay, guys, that’s all for today,” she shouted, her voice echoing around the room. “Our shows are next week, so don’t hurt yourselves between now and then,” she laughed, only half joking. “Any questions?”

One of the older girls, Emma, raised her hand. “Are we going to get to wear out costumes the next time we practice?”

Peggy grinned. “Yeah,” she answered, reveling in the way the faces of the younger kids lit up. “We’ll make sure they fit next week, before Friday. Anything else?”

The group looked around at each other, their movements reflecting in the mirrors that lined the walls. No one spoke up, so Peggy continued.

“Alright, everyone, sit in a circle,” she announced, gesturing to the middle of the floor. The kids scrambled to find an empty space. “Make sure everyone fits. I’ll be right back.”

The youngest Schuyler walked quickly out of the room, crossing to the staff lockers and pulling out one of her bags. It was filled with candy canes of all different colors and flavors, clinking gently against each other as she swung the bag beside her. She had bought several boxes of the things at the mall the night before, making sure Angelica knew that they weren’t all for her; she taught a bunch of small children, after all. And she had given some to Theo for her classes, as well to Eliza for her first graders.

Peggy walked back over to her little group, seating herself in the middle of the circle and pouring the bag out in front of her. She heard a few gasps, glancing up to see two dozen pairs of wide eyes staring back at her. She grinned.

“Okay, so I bought these yesterday for you guys-” A few cheers and a round of applause accompanied her words. “And I have no idea what flavors are in here, but you can each have, like, four. My sister doesn’t want me to bring any of them home.”

The group scrambled towards the pile of candy, grabbing two and trading until they got the four they wanted. Wrappers were torn off and discarded, and the scents of various flavors filled the small room. Peggy caught whiffs of blueberry, cherry, some sickly sweet fruity one she couldn’t attempt to name, and the normal peppermint ones.

The kids slowly made their way out of the room, clutching their candy in hands and mouths, lips varying shades of blue and purple from the dyes, and Peggy glanced down at the remaining pile of striped candies. There was a small enough amount left that she could probably bring them home without getting yelled at by Angelica for eating too much candy. And if that happened, she could hang some of them on the tree.

She gathered them up and piled them back into the bag, absently wandering around the room and grabbing the last few pieces of cellophane that were scattered across the floor before stuffing them into the bag; she’d sort it out and toss them later. She fished out a bright yellow twisted candy and tore off the end of the wrapper, sticking it in her mouth. Lemon.

She flipped the switch for the lights, closing the door tightly behind her as she made her way towards the front desk, waving at her students and complimenting them on their work that day. Theo was already seated in one of the swivel chairs, texting someone on her phone before Peggy leaned across the desk’s cluttered surface.

“Any chance you want to help me eat some of these so I don’t get yelled at by my sister?” she asked, shaking the bag of candy. 

Theo laughed. “Sure,” she said, motioning for Peggy to hand her the bag. She stuck her hand inside, staring at the contents as she mixed it around. “What flavors did you get?”

“That’s the thing,” Peggy said, running her fingers along the edge of the desk as she walked around to sit beside her friend. “I don’t exactly know. I kinda just grabbed a bunch that looked cool.” She thought for a second. “I know the yellow ones are lemon though, and there’s some mint in there, too.”

“Ah,” Theo murmured, nodding slightly and continuing her search through the bag. She pulled out a few, scrutinizing the colors before picking out two and holding them up. 

“How much you wanna bet that the red one is mint and the dark one is chocolate?”

Peggy grinned, pulling her own lemon candy from her mouth. “I don’t know, I think the red one’s cherry and the dark one is grape or something.”

Theo pulled the wrapper from the red one, sticking it in her mouth. Her eyes widened, and she pulled it from her lips.

“It’s cinnamon,” she said, staring at it for a second before biting off a piece. “That’s so weird, I was expecting mint.”

Peggy cackled. “It’s like that one jelly bean game, you know? The one with the disgusting flavors.”

Theo grimaced. “At least these taste good.”

The two ate a few more candy canes, guessing the flavors again and being wrong most of the time. They found a bunch of chocolate-flavored ones in the bottom. Theo grabbed a few red ones, hoping to get a few mint ones instead of cherry or cinnamon, and Peggy sorted out all the yellow ones she could find, sticking them in her purse before glancing back inside the bag.

“I think this is an acceptable amount of candy compared to what I had before, yes?” she said, looking up at Theo.

The other girl nodded. “Definitely,” she said, a rainbow candy cane sticking out of her mouth. She glanced at her watch. “Shit, I have to go. Aaron and I have some stuff planned.”

Peggy nodded, setting her bag on the floor and pulling on her jacket. “All good. I’ll see you next week then.”

The two walked out together before going their separate ways. Peggy was walking home, and she hadn’t forgotten her gloves today, so her hands wouldn’t be killing her this time.

By the time she got home, she had eaten two more candy canes, nearly dropping the bag twice as she swung it around her wrist. She intended to shove the bag under her bed once she made it inside, but ended up offering some to her sisters and John Church. Some of them found their way to the Christmas tree, spots of color intermingling with the popcorn strings. She ended up stashing the rest of the bag in her room, hoping that she’d have some left for the Christmas party in a week.

If she didn’t eat them all before then, that is.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I didn't know how to end this so like... awkward words.


	16. Mistletoe

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Cheeky kisses under the mistletoe.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Over 300 hits in two weeks? Guys, I'm kinda dead over here. I'm so happy, thank you so much.
> 
> This thing has kind of developed a mind of its own. I originally intended for this to just be random fluffy chapters, but at some point, actual plot appeared? Like... all the Laf and Herc stuff just kind of happened, as well as the Maria/Eliza, so... I hope you like it? (There's so much more angst than I intended and I'm sorry.) This chapter might be kinda scattered too.

Dim mood lighting cast a warm glow around the apartment, painting faint shadows across the walls as guests wandered around. Fat, puffy snowflakes fell outside the large, floor-to-ceiling windows, but they went unnoticed by most of the people in the crowded room. The lavishly decorated tree was the center of attention, with the coordinated lavender and gold adornments gaining generous praise.

Adrienne stood at the center of a group of people, dressed in some fancy designer gown that fell to the floor. It was pale pink and dripping with a waterfall of tiny crystals that fell from her waist to her ankles. Heavy diamond jewelry hung from her neck and ears, sponsored by the last company she modeled them for. She had gotten at least a dozen compliments on them throughout the night, all of them asking where she got her beautiful accessories.

As the hostess, she has been flitting throughout all her guests, greeting friends and introducing herself to others who could possibly represent her in the upcoming year. She laughed along with her current group as someone told an outrageous story, but her gaze was fixed on someone across the room, and her mind was elsewhere as well.

Lafayette sat by himself, gazing out the windows at the dark sky, watching the snow fall dizzily towards the ground below. He had come home late a few nights ago, the night she had told him to go talk to Hercules. He had been all tired eyes and flushed skin, and she was pretty sure she had caught sight of some bruises across his neck, but she hadn’t made any comments. He had fallen into her arms, body shaking with silent sobs, and she knew that he hadn’t actually talked to Herc, but instead reverted back to what he knew best: physical interaction. She held him while he told her what happened.

She would always hold him, always help him. They were basically family at this point, and 

So she had decided that her friend needed some assistance. And after a few last-minute changes to the decorations and one extra invite to her early Christmas party, it was done. She now spent every few minutes glancing at the clock, mentally calculating how much time she actually had before she needed to pull her friend from his own mind.

Mistletoe had always been her favorite decoration during the holidays. It symbolized love, yes, and even though it was used for so many cliches, she felt it was necessary, just this once. She had even made Laf help her put it up; he had rolled his eyes and stayed silent the entire time. 

And besides, it was fun, watching all the couples in the entry hall kissing gently beneath the festive plant.

She excused herself from her guests after a while, and made her way across the room towards her friend. He had been silent for most of the week, taking more jobs than usual, so she didn’t see him as often, but when he was at home, he didn’t talk to her.

She stood next to him at the window, staying silent for a second before turning to him.

“I have not seen you talking to anyone tonight, mon cher,” she murmured, sipping at her glass of champagne. He held one of his own between his slim fingers, but it looked untouched. He sighed.

“I do not wish to talk to anyone tonight,” he said quietly, not looking at her.

“You are going to have to,” she declared, placing her empty glass on one of the small tables. “I cannot continue answering the door for every guest tonight; this is your party as well.”

He sighed again, finally taking a sip of his drink. “Fine,” he murmured, finally tearing his gaze away from the snow outside. “But only for a while.”

She nodded with finality, taking his hand and pulling him to the center of the room. “I was going to talk to some agents,” she said, gesturing vaguely to the other side of the room.

He inclined his head in acknowledgement, and she released his hand before stepping away, shaking hands with and smiling politely at a few men in suits while keeping her eyes on her friend and the front door.

She hoped he wouldn’t hate her for this.

. . .

Lafayette usually didn’t mind the fancy parties. He could deal with pretty much anything is he had a glass of champagne and Adrienne at his side, but tonight was torture. He didn’t feel like interacting with anyone, and he hadn’t gotten much sleep the past few nights due to the number of modeling jobs he had picked up to take his attention off of, well, everything.

Needless to say, it hadn’t worked.

He was pulled into a few mindless conversations with acquaintances from the business, most of it being small talk about news within the industry or new clothing lines being released within the next few months, and his heart wasn’t in it. His mind was elsewhere, reliving the other night he had spent with Hercules. 

He hadn’t meant for anything to happen. He had been planning on talking things over, figuring everything out. But of course that hadn’t happened. The two of them never talked about things. They were friends and kind-of-lovers, and when emotions were involved, words were not.

He eventually excused himself from a particularly boring group who had been discussing his recent work, and cast his eyes around for Adrienne. He finally spotted her in the midst of a large group of people halfway across the room, and decided he would rather not engage with anyone. He turned his gaze towards the entryway, taking in the sight of a younger couple sharing a kiss under the mistletoe that hung there, and his heart twisted painfully.

He was just about to retreat into the kitchen and find something strong to take his mind off his thoughts when the doorbell rang through the apartment. He made his way over to the door, brushing past various groups and acknowledging several of them as they called his name. He opened the door, expecting another rich model dressed in the latest designer clothing, and instead found himself face to face with a slightly uncomfortable-looking Hercules Mulligan.

“Adrienne invited me,” he offered, shifting his weight from his left foot to his right. “I can leave though.”

“Non, you are a guest, it is okay,” Laf replied, taking a step back so the other man could step inside. He shut the door. “She did not inform me of your invitation.”

Herc smiled slightly, his eyes drifting down to Lafayette’s shirt collar, which hid a few of the marks left from the previous night. “It was kind of last minute,” he mumbled.

“Oh,” Laf said quietly, not knowing what else to say.

They stood in the entryway for a few moments, the silence pressing forcefully down around them as they looked anywhere but at each other. Lafayette answered the door once more, this time for an older man and a woman who greeted him cheerfully. The man glanced up after a second and chuckled.

“Mistletoe, my dear,” he murmured to the woman, and she smiled, leaning in to press their lips together. When they parted, she looked over to Lafayette and Hercules.

“Have you two kissed yet?” she asked, smiling slightly. “You look as if you’ve been here a while.”

Laf stuttered out a “Non, we haven’t-” at the same time that Herc managed a “We’re not together,” and the woman tutted.

“If you’re under the mistletoe, you kiss. Those are the rules,” she said, tapping them both on the chest. “I’ll leave you to it.”

And with that she walked away, her husband wrapping an arm around her waist as they went.

Lafayette glanced up at the mistletoe once more before turning to his friend, and, before he had time to think, pressed their lips together.

Herc’s response was immediate, as always, and they melted together once more, in a tangle of arms and fingers reaching to wrap around necks and tangle in the other’s hair. Except this time, it was Herc who tensed, pulling away as Laf opened his eyes. They stared at each other for a second before the other man spoke.

“I- I can’t keep doing this,” Herc whispered, casting his eyes anywhere but on Lafayette. “I should go. Tell Adrienne I said thank you.”

Then he was gone. And they still hadn’t talked about it.

He turned quickly, and almost ran into Adrienne. Her eyes were wide with guilt and her lips pursed tightly as she bit them.

“Mon cher, I am so sorry, I only meant-”

“It’s done,” he managed quietly, choking on his words. “He does not want me.”

He plastered a smile onto his face as he walked across the room and into a crowd of people, greeting them with kisses to both cheeks and launching into animated conversation with a few of them. Adrienne stood back and watched helplessly as her friend destroyed himself from the inside out.

The smile didn’t quite reach his eyes, and Adrienne felt more guilty than ever.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I'm sorry I updated so late. I started late and I didn't know exactly what I was writing, so...


	17. Sledding

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Peggy and Eliza go sledding, and there's some more development.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> One more week, and then I'm on winter break.
> 
> I have to say though, even for posting every night between 11:30 and 1:00, I've had a surprising amount of energy this month with little sleep. I'm not dead yet, though, so I must be doing something right.
> 
> Once again, I'm super happy to see that everyone is enjoying this, and I can't wait to start publishing some other stuff soon. (I haven't abandoned Shades of You, I promise.)

The sun glared white across the snow-covered landscape, the gleeful shouts of children fading to whispers as the sound was absorbed by the puffy snow. The snow had been packed down by the boots of hundreds of people over the past few weeks,

Eliza stood at the top of the hill beside Peggy who bounced excitedly beside her. Eliza wasn’t sure how exactly she had been roped into going sledding on a Sunday morning, but she figured things could be a whole lot worse. It was nice to be out of the house and away from Angelica and John, who were a surprisingly sappy couple despite her sister’s usually serious demeanor.

Her younger sister had dragged her out of bed that morning, offered her freshly brewed tea, and somehow convinced Eliza to driver her forty-five minutes away to the sledding hills they had gone to when they were younger. They now stood, at eleven o’clock on a Sunday, amongst half a dozen families dressed in colorful winter clothes, all the kids dragging plastic sleds behind them.

Eliza had outright refused to get in Peggy’s sled, citing the fact that she didn’t want to catch a cold as her excuse, when in reality she trusted Peggy’s ability to steer as much as she had when they were kids. As a result, she had spent a few minutes wrestling with her sister at the top of the slope.

Eventually, Peggy had given up, marching over to the incline and Every time she made it back to the top, she was groaning about how much effort it took to walk back up. After a while, she made a game of racing some of the older kids down, usually winning most of the time. A few times, she had nearly fallen out, trying to do some stupid trick to show off.

Peggy returned to her side after a while, brushing snow off her gloves and shaking it out of the pom-pom on the top of her hat. She rewound the scarf around her neck, glancing around at the people nearby as she continued her attempts to convince Eliza to get in the sled.

“Hey, isn’t that Maria?” her sister asked suddenly, pointing somewhere behind Eliza’s head.

Eliza turned around, squinting into the bright sunlight as she tried to make out the faces of the figures standing beside a large pine tree. “I don’t know…”

She and Maria had been texting a lot in the past few days, and the conversations went surprisingly well. Eliza figured she did better when she actually had time to think about what she wanted to say instead of coming up with something on the spot.

Peggy’s voice snapped her from her thoughts. “Yep, that’s her!” she exclaimed, walking past Eliza. “Come on, let’s go say hi.”

“Peggy, no, don’t-” she protested, but her sister was already walking back towards the other woman.

“Hey, Maria!” she yelled, waving her hands in the air. The other woman glanced up, smiling as she saw Peggy. They talked for a moment before Peggy gestured back towards Eliza, and Maria’s gaze fell on her just as Eliza felt her cheeks flush. The little group started walking back towards where Eliza was standing beside Pegg’s neon yellow sled, and Maria’s daughter started sprinting ahead of her mother and Peggy.

“Miss Eliza!” Susan yelled, grinning brightly and running through the snow, dragging her purple sled behind her. She dropped the rope and wrapped herself around Eliza, who had bent down to the little girl’s level.

“Why are you here?” she asked, her face scrunching up in confusion. “I thought you didn’t have any kids.”

“Susan!” Maria exclaimed, eyes widening. Eliza laughed.

“No, it’s okay,” she said, smiling at Maria for a brief moment before turning back to her student. “You know the woman who ran up to you and your mom?”

Susan nodded, glancing over her shoulder at Peggy, who waved and made a face.

“She’s my sister, and she wanted to go sledding today for some reason. And we came here when we were little, so she wanted to come back.”

Susan’s face lit up. “Oh!”

“Hey, Susan,” Peggy started, kneeling down in the snow. “If your mom says it’s okay, I’ll go sledding with you while your mom and Miss Eliza talk.”

Eliza froze. “Peggy, what-”

“Please mom? I want to go really fast,” Susan begged, gazing up at her mother with imploring eyes.

Maria laughed. “Of course, sweetheart. Have fun.” She turned to Peggy, mouthing a thank you in her direction. Peggy grinned, and as Maria turned away, she shot a smirk at Eliza, coupled with a wink before she shot away hand-in-hand with Susan, rambling about the races they could do with the other kids.

Eliza watched them go before turning back to Maria. “So, how was your weekend?” she asked, feeling kind of awkward.

Thankfully, Maria didn’t notice, or at least pretended that she didn’t. “It’s been good. Daniella gave me a few extra days off next week, so I can do some stuff with Susan.”

Eliza smiled. “That’s good,” she replied. “Have any plans for the holidays?”

Maria laughed. “No, not really. Theo invited us to a Christmas Eve party though, so I might go to that.” She paused. “What about you?”

“Not much, honestly. We have our annual party with all of our friends, and we usually go visit out parents on Christmas Day, but that’s pretty much it.”

“Sometimes less is more,” Maria smiled, shrugging. “I don’t know how I’m going to do all my holiday shopping and wrapping before next week though. I’m so busy”

Eliza gasped, an idea popping into her head. “So, my sisters and I always make a night of wrapping presents before the holidays, and maybe you could join us this year?”

Maria blinked, and Eliza immediately cursed herself.

_Was that too forward? Shit, you made it sound too much like a friendly thing, now she’ll get the wrong idea. But you don’t want her to know about your stupid crush, so maybe-_

Maria’s voice broke into her thoughts, and Eliza found herself staring at the other woman’s lips, her signature red lipstick smudged around the corners. She shook herself out of it and focused on what she was saying.

“I’d love to, actually,” she said, smiling slightly. “I can never get anything done at home, since Susan is always there and that would ruin the surprise.”

Eliza breathed a small sigh of relief. “Great. Cool. Awesome,” she managed. “So, this Friday, around seven. Does that work?”

Maria smiled. “It’s a date.”

At that moment Peggy and Susan bounced up behind them, both covered in snow but grinning from ear to ear. Eliza heard something

Maria reached for Susan’s hand, and Eliza realized just hoe close they had been standing. She took a step back.

“Ready to go?” Maria asked, glancing down at her snow-covered daughter. Susan nodded, asking about hot chocolate, and Maria nodded. Turning to Eliza, she said, “I’ll see you Friday then?”

Eliza smiled. “Yep! Text me.”

Maria nodded, raising a hand in farewell before walking away.

She watched them walk away for a moment before gesturing to her sister as they made their way back toward the car.

“So, dear sister, what’s this I hear about a date?” Peggy said smugly, walking backwards in front of Eliza while also attempting not to trip on her sled.

Eliza blushed, smiling behind her scarf.

“It’s nothing,” she mumbled, pulling out her keys. “I just invited her to wrap presents with us on Friday.”

“Ooh, sounds festive,” Peggy singsonged, stomping her boots on the concrete. She smirked. “Will there be any kisses under the mistletoe?”

Eliza blushed even more. “No,” she said firmly, pushing the idea from her head before changing the subject. “And you’d better not get all that snow in my car.”

Peggy rolled her eyes, but began shaking the snow off her clothes as Eliza sat down, gazing out the window.

_It’s a date._


	18. A Little Bit of Cinnamon

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Hot cocoa.
> 
> Fluff. It's all fluff.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> So if you couldn't tell, I'm a nerd, and I make references to In the Heights. I've started putting cinnamon in my hot chocolate now.
> 
> I think I might actually be able to post *gasp* earlier than... like... 11:30 for the next few nights? I don't think I actually have that much school work.
> 
> Anyway, enjoy this fluff! I really liked the sound stuff today for some reason? Idek, but have fun with that.

The city was alive with people, all talking or yelling or walking or listening to music under the darkening sky, their shadows cast across the street and along the walls of the tall buildings. Cars honked impatiently, their headlights distorting the shadows of the people as they passed by, and faint strains of music could be heard from a radio on one of the lower-floor apartments.

It was Monday, sometime around five. Alex hadn’t managed to drink any coffee throughout the day; he had been working on a few big cases and forgotten that he needed to eat, and to top it all off, he had been thrown out of the office once again. He would have liked to say that it was because of his own free will, but in reality, he had been arguing with Jefferson over one of their cases and Washington had told him to go home. In his defense, Jefferson had commented on something Alex had written for a case he himself wasn’t even involved in, and Alex had just been defending his work.

Washington hadn’t seen it that way though, shooting disapproving looks at the both of them while simultaneously telling them that they needed to sort it out before sending Alex home.

So it had been a bit of a day.

“Finally,” he muttered, shoving his key into the lock and twisting the doorknob.

After he had tossed his coat and shoes somewhere in his room and changed into something more comfortable than a suit, he grabbed an apple from the kitchen, glancing out the window for a second and seeing the melting snowman from a few weeks ago. He made his way back into the living room, settling himself down on the couch with his laptop and attempting to revise something he had coerced Burr into editing for him earlier.

He eventually gave up, after trying and failing to cut down the extensive statements to something more succinct and effective. Shutting his laptop in frustration, he placed it on the floor beside the couch as he stretched his hands, hearing a few audible pops as his knuckles cracked.

John returned a little while after Alex did, entering the apartment and chucking his coat haphazardly onto one of the hooks by the door, slipping his damp shoes off in the doorway. He ran his hand through Alex’s hair in greeting before continuing down the hallway.

Alex heard the water running in the bathroom, as well as muffled humming, and soon enough, John had made his way back to the living room, stepping into Alex’s field of vision.

“Hey,” his boyfriend whispered, damp curly hair hanging around his face.

Alex smiled. “Hey yourself,” he murmured, stretching a hand out to grab at John’s wrist. His boyfriend obliged, catching Alex’s fingers in his own.

“What are you doing home early again?” John asked, sitting down and resting his head on Alex’s shoulder. Alex felt a few droplets of water soak into his shirt, and he hummed.

“Jefferson was being an ass and Washington kicked me out,” Alex muttered, turning his head to catch John’s lips in a quick kiss.

John grinned, dropping his chin and pressing his forehead to Alex’s.

“And I kinda didn’t eat much today,” he added as John stood up. “I kinda want something to drink though.”

“Want me to make something?” John asked, already turning back towards the kitchen.

Alex nodded, sinking back onto the couch. “Coffee, please.”

John stopped, shaking his head. “No,” he replied. “It’s almost seven. You’ll never sleep if you have coffee this late.”

Alex groaned. “I can live without sleep,” he said. “I can’t live without coffee.”

“Yes, you can.” John said, turning away. “I’m making hot chocolate.”

He didn’t protest, opting instead to close his eyes and listen to John’s movements in the kitchen. He could hear the clanging of pots as John rifled through the cabinets, the harsh sound of metal on metal as said pot was placed on the stovetop. His ears caught the gentle scattering of sugar as it was poured into the metal, and the sharp snap of plastic as John closed the containers and put things away. He heard milk sloshing into a measuring cup and stirred grittily into the sugar with a wooden spoon, the gentle click of the stove as it ignited, and the scraping of wood on metal as John mixed up the drinks. There was the clinking of mugs as he pulled them from the cabinet, and the shrill beeping of the timer before it was turned off.

He heard John too; listened to the sound of his feet padding across the tiled floor, concentrated on the numbers he muttered under his breath as he measured ingredients, noted the slight sighs that escaped his lungs while his mind wandered absently. He heard the tapping of John’s fingers against the counter, the scratch of wood as he bumped into a chair, and the quiet humming that emanated from his lips.

Eventually, the rich scent of chocolate filled the apartment, and Alex had forgotten about his want for coffee. John walked back into the room with two cups, handing one to Alex.

Alex took a sip, and looked up at John confusion.

“What did you put in this?” he asked, taking another gulp of the steaming drink. “Is that cinnamon?”

John shifted slightly, looking away. “Yeah,” he said quietly, his paint-stained fingers tapping gently against the side of his cup. “My- my mom used to make it that way for me and my siblings around the holidays. I hope you don’t mind.”

Alex’s eyes softened. “Of course I don’t mind,” he whispered, setting his mug down carefully on the table as he stood up. He pulled the cup from John’s hands, wrapping his arms around his boyfriend. “Why would I mind?”

“I don’t know,” John said quietly, melting into the touch. “We never really did it after she died, kind of an unspoken rule.” He laughed. “Probably just instinct, I guess. I don’t talk about her that much.”

“You can talk to me if you want to,” Alex murmured into John’s neck. “I’m always here.”

“I know,” he whispered, pulling away. “Thank you.”

“Of course,” Alex said, squeezing his hand. They picked up their cups and settled back onto the couch, closer together than before.

 _A little bit of cinnamon,_ he thought, snuggled up against his boyfriend as they sipped their drinks and stared absently at the glowing tree in the corner. _That seems like a John thing._

_Perfect._


	19. Christmas Baking

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Baking and memories.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Only six more days! I'm really excited to finish this. And I have so much that I want to cram in the last few chapters... This one is significantly shorter than the others, but I didn't know what else to add without it being forced.
> 
> ANYWAY enjoy this fluff! The cookies are based off of some that I usually make around the holidays.

A large fire crackled in the fireplace in the living room, casting a warm glow throughout the apartment. Christmas music basted from the radio in the kitchen, and a quartet of voices mingled together as the Schuylers plus John Church attempted to bake.

The three sisters had dragged him into their holiday tradition that morning, against his protests that it was their thing. They had gotten up early to go shopping, and several bags were spread out across the kitchen table, all of them filled with baking supplies. An old recipe box had been pulled out, and four different cards were pulled from the box. Soon enough, he had found himself paired with Peggy and set to the task of making sugar cookies.

Every surface in the large kitchen was covered with various baking tools, from bowls to measuring spoons to open containers of ingredients. Flour had been scattered across the table, cracked eggshells were placed carefully in a bowl, and splatters of red and green food coloring dripped off the edges of the counters. A light dusting of sugar crunched under their feet with every step, and the sink was full of dishes and spoons and more measuring cups.

Angelica and Eliza were working on rolling out dough to shape into pinwheel cookies. Six rectangular pieces of cream-colored dough lay on sheets of wax paper, and they both held flour-covered rolling pins in their hands. A few bowls of colored dough sat on the counter, split evenly into smaller pieces. They, at least, worked efficiently.

John and Peggy, on the other hand, did not.

The youngest Schuyler had nearly spilled the sugar at least twice as she measured it into the bowls, and the counter was most likely going to be stained forever with festive colors, since they had knocked over both bottles of food coloring in an attempt to keep the sugar from ending upon the floor. An array of measuring dishes had to be washed and rewashed because they kept dropping them, and the two of them were covered head to toe in flour.

At least John was having fun. Peggy kept making jokes so random that he had to put down whatever he had just picked up so it didn’t end up on the floor from his laughter. She sang along to the songs on the radio, but in different voices, and she made fun of the content. She also talked about her job, and all the little kids she had the pleasure of teaching. They discussed London, various Christmas presents they had bought, and Peggy smirked wickedly when she mentioned a woman named Maria in relation to Eliza, and John decided then that he never wanted to get on her bad side.

He was kind of scared of her, to be honest. She seemed to know everything before someone said anything about it, although that was most likely Angelica’s doing. She reminded him a bit of Angelica and her protective instinct even with her bubbly personality.

He was pretty sure that Angelica’s sisters liked him; they hadn’t done anything past the shovel talks they had give him when they arrived, and he hoped he would never experience the wrath that he was positive existed within Eliza’s calm exterior. Although, Peggy seemed more likely to act on her emotions, so he didn’t want to make her mad, either.

Angelica’s clear voice sang along to the music on the radio, and John realized once again just how lucky he was. His girlfriend was so amazingly close to her sisters; she shared everything with them and trusted them with her life. And if she sang around him, she probably trusted him too.

He smiled, looking back down at the bowl of sugar he was mixing on the counter, which was tinted a light shade of red. An elbow poked into his side and he jumped.

Peggy stood beside him, an eyebrow raised as she stared. “What are you thinking about?” she asked, pouring more green coloring into her bowl.

John glanced back down at his hands. “Nothing,” he said.

Peggy poked him again. “That smile doesn’t seem like nothing to me,” she countered, narrowing her eyes slightly. “Were you thinking about my sister?”

Jesus, this girl knew everything.

“Yeah,” he admitted, smiling slightly again. “She’s amazing.” He paused for a second before continuing. “I mean, you knew that already; she’s your sister. But I’m so lucky to have her and I love her so much.”

Peggy was quiet for a second before she spoke. “I can see that,” she muttered, rolling small pieces of sticky dough into rounded balls and placing them on the pans. “Like I said before, you’d better not hurt her. I know she can take care of herself, but we’re her sisters, and we’ll kill you if you break her heart.”

“I know,” John replied, catching Peggy’s gaze as she turned towards him. “And I wouldn’t dream of hurting her.”

The youngest Schuyler stared at him for a second, as if evaluating his truthfulness, and then she turned back to the cookies.

“Cool,” she said with finality, placing the last piece of dough onto the sheet. She flashed a quick smile at him before walking over to the cabinet to grab two glasses to smash the balls of dough, and they set to work.

Miraculously, the four of them managed to not burn any of the cookies, though John suspected that Peggy snuck a few into her mouth when Angelica wasn’t looking. They finished the sugar cookies and the pinwheels, and John grabbed the gingerbread recipe while Eliza took the treasure bars.

 

Several hours later, piles of cookies cooled on wire racks on the counter, and two pans of treasure bars were covered in foil and set to chill in the fridge. Most of the dishes had been washed, and the four of them sat in the living room, having changed into clothes that weren’t covered in baking ingredients.

The fire had died down, now only casting a faint glow across the walls, and the Christmas tree sparkled with rainbow lights. Eliza lay across the couch, texting someone and turning her phone away from Peggy’s sneaky glances while Angelica and John cuddled together on the other couch.

“I’m guessing you survived Peggy’s energy, then?” she asked, taking his hand in her own.

John laughed. “Yeah. I think she actually likes me.”

“I told you they would,” Angelica gloated, and he squeezed her hand.

“Yeah,” he murmured, glancing around at the sisters. “You did.”


	20. Love Actually

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Some confessions are made.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I'm really excited for this one. Love Actually is one of my favorite holiday movies and it had to be included here and I definitely recommend it for all the feels. (Although if you're younger, you shouldn't watch it - it's rated R for a reason, guys)
> 
> I was like "oh yeah, I'll start this early," and now it's 10pm and I haven't finished my English homework, but oh well.  
> Also I apologize for the inadvertent Hamilton and In The Heights references... words come and then I realize that I'm singing the rest of the line in my head. 
> 
> Enjoy!

It had been surprisingly warm over the past few days, and most of the snow had melted and dampened the sidewalks with slush. Peggy’s snow fort had been reduced to about a foot high, and the trees dripped with water. Angelica was alone in the apartment; her boyfriend had gone to run a few errands, and dince Eliza and Peggy both had to work that day, Angelica had decided to wash the last of the baking dishes, and now stood at the counter with a sink full of water and various bowls.

Her phone dinged from its place on the table, and she pulled her hands from the soapy water, wiping them on a spare towel before reading the words across the screen.

It was from Herc again; she could have guessed that. What she couldn’t have guessed was the story he told in a few short sentences involving Lafayette, mistletoe, and and Adrienne’s party.

She sighed and clicked it off again, closing her eyes as she sank down into one of the kitchen chairs.

Angelica wasn’t the person who meddled with the lives of other people, especially when their relationships were concerned. Who someone gave their heart to was their choice and their choice only, and she she refused to make her opinions a part of that.

But this was different. She had seen both of her friends over the past few weeks, and had been texting non-stop with Herc since the night of the bonfire. She knew what they were going through; Laf assumed that Herc had rejected him, Herc wasn’t doing anything to correct that assumption, and she knew that they were both too afraid to say anything. They weren’t going to talk about it, and would let it destroy them from the inside instead.

She opened her eyes, and her gaze landed, unfocused, on the slowly blinking lights of the Christmas tree as she pondered her options. They hadn’t had a movie night with all of them since before Angelica had gone to London, and she figured it would be a good way to take a break from the stress of the holiday season. Plus, if she played her cards right, she might be able to get those two idiots to see the obvious.

Love Actually had been one of her favorite movies since she was seventeen, and she cried every time she watched it. There were so many different portrayals of love, and it wasn’t all romantic. A dad and his stepson. A woman and her mentally challenged brother. A rockstar and his manager. And everything linked together, like a huge puzzle with ten different stories being told all at once.

Maybe she could make it eleven tonight.

. . .

Hercules had been surprised to get a text from Angelica that afternoon, inviting him for a movie night at Eliza and Peggy’s place. They hadn’t had one for a while, not since Angelice had left for London. It didn’t feel right without everyone there. So he accepted, and attempted to find out the movie she had chosen to no avail.

He was the last of their friends to arrive, just after Angelica had texted him for the third time to make sure he was actually coming. The apartment smelled of freshly made popcorn, and bottles of various drinks were spread out across the counter. A plate of cookies, probably made by the Schuylers, was set on the low table in the center of the living room, and the lights on the Christmas tree had been unplugged to avoid glare on the screen.

Everyone had already settled into their usual seats; John and Alex squished beside Angelica, with the new addition of John Church, Eliza and Peggy had stretched out on Peggy’s beanbags on the floor, and Thomas and James shared the L-shaped section at the end of the couch. Which left an empty spot beside Laf, the spot where Herc usually sat and whispered sarcastic comments to his friend throughout the entirety of the film.

Except they weren’t just friends, and they weren’t talking, but none of their friends knew that. So he had to play along.

He took a seat beside the Frenchman, taking great care not to touch him, and he thought he saw a flicker of something akin to sadness in Laf’s eyes before he looked away, directing his gaze toward Angelica. She didn’t look up, instead directing Alex to stop making out with his boyfriend and go turn out the lights, and pressed play.

The movie started with the rock star, Billy Mack, creating a new version of one of his songs, except he kept repeating the original verse by mistake. After a particularly long string of British curses, Herc turned to Laf instinctually, whispering under his breath.

“I wonder if his lovers appreciate that foul mouth,” he muttered, brushing against his friend’s arm.

Laf’s head snapped around, eyes wide and a shocked look on his face, and Herc thought he had gone too far when his friend spoke.

“Ah, do not judge the Europeans, mon ami,” he smirked. “You know all too well what we are like in bed.”

With that, he turned back to the television screen, and Herc was left blushing slightly and wondering what the hell had just happened.

The movie continued, and the two of them traded comments and critiques the characters’ decisions. One of Laf’s comments about John and Judy’s awkward flirting nearly caused Herc to fall off the couch laughing, and it was almost as if they had returned to normal.

Almost.

They didn’t touch, not really. Of course, the occasional brush of a hand or a knee came with sitting on the smallest couch in the room, but they never got any closer than those small, accidental touches. Instead of gravitating towards each other, they leaned away, only getting close enough to murmur stupid comments and not bother their friends with their commentary.

Herc smiled sadly as Aurelia told Jaime that she was in love with him, and jumped when Laf’s accented voice whispered, “Kiss her, you idiot,” into his ear. A little while later, he stared, speechless, as Jaime began speaking to Aurelia in Portuguese, a language he had learned just so he could ask her to marry him, and his mind began to wander.

_What if that was me? What if I did that for Laf?_

He shook his head quickly, shifting away from Laf slightly when he noticed how close they were. He didn’t know what they were anymore, but he did know that they would never be what Jamie and Aurelia were.

He watched as Mark confessed his love to Juliet, his best friend’s wife, and found himself wishin, once again, that it could be him and Laf

All too soon, the movie ended, some characters left with happy endings, and some were bittersweet and everyone began bidding goodbyes and double checking plans for the Christmas party.

“Go talk to him, you idiot,” she said, glancing toward Laf, who stood near the door with Alex and John.

Herc shushed her, glancing over at the group by the door to make sure they weren’t listening. “He doesn’t want to talk to me,” he said quietly. “We’re not-” he glanced down, shaking his head slightly before looking away and gesturing vaguely. “I don’t know what we are, but we’ll never be… that.”

She took a step closer, crossing her arms over her chest. “Yeah?” she challenged, raising one eyebrow. “Well, based on the way he kept staring at you during some of those scenes, I think otherwise.”

Herc shook his head again. “No,” he said, turning to pull on his coat. He wasn’t going to go there, wasn’t going to give himself false hope. “It’s not going to happen, Angelica. You didn’t see his face that night.”

She stared at him for a second before sighing. “Fine,” she said, turning away. “I’ll see you next week.”

Laf and John and Alex had disappeared from the doorway, and Herc stepped out into the frigid winter air, pulling his scarf tighter around his face while he glanced down the street. Lafayette's slim figure was a little ways down the block, and Herc was struck with the memory of the scene from a few hours ago, where Aurelia walked away from Jaime after her confession.

 _Screw it,_ he thought, and he hopped down the last few steps, walking quickly down the sidewalk.

“Laf, wait,” he called, and Lafayette, by some miracle, stopped walking and turned around.

He didn’t know what he was going to say. He didn’t have anything planned out, and he had no idea how this was going to end, but he had to try.

He stopped in front of his friend, taking a breath and opening his mouth to speak.

“Laf, about the other night, I-”

The Frenchman shook his head, closing his eyes for a second before opening them again, and Herc realized how guarded he looked, as if he was protecting himself from Herc’s words.

“You do not have to apologize for that, mon ami,” he said quietly, his voice shaking slightly as he fixed his gaze somewhere below Herc’s face, and Herc realized that he was trying not to cry. “That was my fault, not yours. I should not have kissed you.” He took a breath, taking another step back. “You made it clear before that you did not reciprocate my feelings.”

Herc moved closer, reaching out a hand to grasp at empty air as he struggled to find the right words. “No, that’s not it, Laf. That first night, when you told me, I- I was just surprised.”

The Frenchman glanced up, his breath creating white puffs in the cold air, and Herc continued while he had his attention. “And then you came over that other night, and I wanted to tell you, but then you were there, kissing me, and I figured it could wait for a while, and then-”

“Tell me what?” Laf interrupted, still not meeting Herc’s eyes. “What did you want to tell me?”

“That I’m in love with you,” Herc breathed, and he watched the confusion on his friend’s face change to surprise. “And I don’t know if you still mean what you said before, that first night, but it’s almost Christmas, and I wanted to…” he paused, finally locking eyes with Lafayette and gesturing vaguely with his hand. “I just wanted to tell you.”

They stood in silence for one beat, two, and then Laf spoke.

“Of course I mean it,” he whispered.

And then Laf’s lips were on his, and his arms were wrapped around the other man’s shoulders and his hands were tangled in his hair, and the world turned into the two of them, standing on the sidewalk, sharing their first real kiss since this whole thing had started.

That night, they fell into bed again, but this time was different. There weren’t any of the rushed, frantic movements that usually accompanied these nights; instead, it was gentle, calm. They explored every bit of bare skin, fingers gliding seamlessly across ribs and hips, and everything was slow and careful and perfect.

Afterwards, they didn’t talk about it.  
But this time, they didn't need to.

Herc knew that Laf would be there when he woke up. Hopefully, he would be there the morning after that, too. And the morning after that.

He turned over, listening to Laf’s even breathing, and wrapped an arm gently around his waist.

“To me,” he whispered against Laf’s bare skin, “you are perfect.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> @lavendrr_sky Here's your happy ending, and I hope the angst didn't cross too far over The Line (TM).


	21. Light Walks

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Christmas lights and nighttime walks and some more... confessions.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Four more days! I'm really going to miss writing this, but at least now I have some sense of time management for when I don't have an outline. I hope the last chapter wasn't too scattered. That one (and this one too, actually) kinda turned into me procrastinating a bit and then staying up late af.
> 
> Anyway, I'm a mess and this is ALL the fluff. Featuring my accidental tiebacks to previous chapters that I didn't really plan to happen but I went with them as they came. Enjoy! (The last line is cheesy as heck but like... endings are hard.)

It was dark, just a little past six in the evening. The lights blinked from their Christmas tree, casting oddly shaped shadows along the walls and across the floor, and Alexander stood motionless, staring at a small box between his fingers. It wasn’t wrapped, and he didn’t intend for it to be. He’d had it for about four months, but it never felt like the right moment.

He heard the bedroom door open, and quickly shoved the box into the pocket of his coat. A moment later, John appeared in the doorway, dressed in something other than paint-stained clothing, and he grinned.

“Ready to go?” his boyfriend asked, pulling his jacket over his shoulders as he walked over to Alex, pressing a gentle kiss to his lips.

“Yeah, let’s go,” Alex smiled, grabbing his keys off the table as they made their way out the door. They had decided to take a walk around the neighborhood, wanting to see all the Christmas decorations that people had spent time putting up, and tonight was the perfect night to do it.

They walked slowly along the quieter streets, hand in hand, and pointed out various displays of lights that adorned houses and apartments. Small moving reindeer, simple twisted garlands, dripping icicle lights, and silhouettes of brightly decorated Christmas trees from behind thin curtains. Alex watched an older couple slow dancing in their living room, and his mind flashed to himself and John. That could be them one day.

_But what if he says no?_

Alex shook his head quickly, shoving the thought away. He had waited for so long just so he knew that John wouldn’t say no. He thought he had slipped up a few weeks ago, when he had offhandedly made a comment about when they were married, and John had gone silent, but his boyfriend hadn’t said anything else about it, so Alex wasn’t entirely sure.

“Hey, Alex, look at that one,” John said, gesturing to a balcony a few stories up, brightly-colored lights strung through the metal along with small, glittery ornaments.

“Yeah, it’s nice,” he replied absently, fidgeting distractedly as he retreated back into his thoughts.

John turned to him, concern etched across his features. “Hey, are you okay?” he asked quietly, stepping backwards and reaching for Alex’s hand, weaving their fingers together.

“I’m fine,” he insisted, pulling his fingers from John’s and forcing a smile to mask his nervousness. “Let’s keep walking.”

A light snow had started to fall, dusting the grass and concrete with small, puffy flakes. A few of them landed in Alex’s hair, and he could see a lot more melting against John’s freckled face when his boyfriend turned to say something to him. His mind flashed back to that morning, weeks ago, when John had dragged him out onto the fire escape to stand underneath the falling snow as it tumbled down towards the city streets. He had known then that he wanted to spend the rest of his life with this man, kissing him in the freezing air as the snow fell around them, and he had known for months before then as well.

_Just do it._

They had stopped in front of a house whose windows shone with colorful lights, and John stared at it, mesmerized. Alex took a breath in an attempt to steady his shaking hands, and closed his eyes before he spoke.

“John?” he started, his voice wavering slightly at the end.

His boyfriend turned away from the lights he had been admiring. “What’s up?” he replied, looking at Alex expectantly. His hair puffed out from the messy ponytail at the base of his neck, and his cheeks were red from the cold.

Alex took a step closer. “I…” The carefully prepared speech flew out of his head in an instant. “You know you’re amazing right?”

John blushed, looking happy and confused at the same time. “Is that all?” he murmured, biting his lower lip as he grinned slightly.

Alex shook his head.“You’re amazing,” he continued, taking another breath between words. “You’re sweet and caring and kind, and you were my best friend for so long. And then I fell for you, and I danced around it until I couldn’t stand it anymore, and I took a chance and this happened. You’re everything I ever wanted.”

John was blushing even more now, his freckles standing out in sharp contrast with his face, and he opened his mouth to say something, but Alex had his words back and continued to speak.

“Every day has been perfect, John. Sure, we’ve fought over stupid stuff before, but we always get over it. You’ve supported me through everything, all the ups and downs. and now I get to wake up with you every day. And I want to wake up with you every day, for the rest of my life. So, John Laurens...”

He kept his gaze on John as he knelt down, so he got to see the exact moment when John realized what was happening, when his expression changed from confused to shocked to elated and his fingers flew to his mouth. He watched as his hands started shaking, and he saw tears welling at the corners of his wide green eyes.

Alex swallowed the nervous energy that had balled in his throat, and spoke the last four words.

“Will you marry me?”

John was already nodding frantically, trying to wipe tears from his face as he attempted to speak.

“Yes,” he choked out, crying and laughing and smiling at the same time. “Yes, Alex, yes.”

Alex was crying now too, and he laughed as he pulled the simple ring from the box with trembling fingers, sliding it carefully onto John’s slim hand. It sparkled slightly, the colorful Christmas lights blinking beside them reflecting off the smooth surface. He stood up, and immediately had an armful of John Laurens burying his face in his shoulder. He slid his arms around John’s back and held tight.

_Oh my god, he said yes._

They stayed like that, wrapped around each other while the colorful lights blinked beside them. Eventually, John pulled away, wiping a few tears from his face before he laughed again, running his fingers along Alex’s jaw before leaning in to kiss him, his hands settling on the collar of Alex’s jacket.  
They stood there, sharing gentle kisses on the deserted sidewalk as the snow fell lightly around them.

 _I’m so lucky,_ Alex thought, his right hand clasped in John’s left, the cool metal pressing into his finger. _So lucky to be alive right now._


	22. Christmas Presents

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Maria and Eliza's "date."

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Wow okay, this is the latest update that I've done. I fell asleep on the couch yesterday and I didn't write this so I was going to do two today, but... I'm not sure if that's actually going to happen because I spent three hours knitting something so...
> 
> I also just realized that this is kinda Love Actually? Like... there's a bunch of different stories that all fit together. Peggy and Theo work at the dance studio together. Maria knows Theo through Burr, and therefore, Peggy knows Maria. Susan is Eliza's student, so she knows Maria through her. The Revolutionary set is all friends, of course, the Schuylers are related, and Alex and Burr and Thomas and James all work for GWash.
> 
> ALSO last thing, I love the sister dynamic I've created between the three of them. They're some of my favorites to write.
> 
> Wow I'm so excited right now.

A gentle breeze blew outside the open window, rustling the high-pitched wind chimes that hung from someone’s balcony. Cars drove by on the empty street, and people’s laughter could be heard from somewhere a few blocks away. Someone was singing Christmas carols, and

The gentle click of plastic on metal sounded in the room as hangers were pulled from the metal rod in the closet, and the scratch of fabric over skin echoed over and over as shirts and pants and dresses were slipped on and off again. Eliza stood in her room, trying to calm her racing heart as she debated between several different outfits. A large array of clothing was spread out across her bed, most of it pulled from the closet and tried on once or twice before being discarded on the mattress. The blue dress was too fancy, she had decided, and the green top was too casual.

“Eliza, hurry up, you’ve been deciding on an outfit for over and hour,” Peggy complained from outside the door. “It’s just clothes.”

“Just a minute!” she called, tugging another shirt over her head and turning to the mirror that hung from the wall before taking piece of clothing off again and tossing it onto her bed with a sigh.

She groaned, running her hands through her hair. Maria would arrive in less than ten minutes, and she still wasn’t ready. Maria probably didn’t even like Eliza the same way Eliza liked her; why was she so concerned with her appearance?

Eventually, she picked out one of her favorite soft sweater and loose-fitting, flowy black pants, tying her hair up in a high ponytail before stepping out into the hall.

“Finally!” Peggy shouted when Eliza walked into the living room, a half-eaten candy cane sticking out of her mouth. She turned to Angelica. “I told you she would take more than an hour.”

Angelica rolled her eyes, setting a box of bows onto the table before glancing up at Eliza. “You look nice,” she smirked.

Eliza blushed, turning away as Peggy snickered. “Shut up,” she mumbled, walking back towards her bedroom. “I’m going to get the stuff I have to wrap.”

She had just returned to the living room, setting the first bag of presents down and pulling it way from Peggy’s hands so she couldn’t peek, when the doorbell rang. She set the second one hurriedly down onto the table as she glanced between her sisters, who hadn’t moved.

“Can one of you get that?” she asked.

Peggy raised an eyebrow. “It’s your date,” she said, smirking as Eliza sputtered while Angelica high-fived her from across the table.

“You two are insufferable,” she muttered, walking over to the door, heart pounding in her chest.

When it opened, she stood speechless for a second. Maria stood, beautiful as ever, in a deep, wine-red dress, casual and dressy all at the same time. Her lips, signature red, curved into a slight smile. Eliza shok herself out of it.

“I brought wine,” Maria said, holding up a bag. “And a huge amount of presents that needs wrapping.”

“Great!” Eliza said, her mind still blank. “Uh, do you want to come in?”

Maria laughed, stepping inside after Eliza and putting her coat on one of the empty hooks and turning towards the living room. Angelica and Peggy waved from where they sat on the floor as they walked in.

“Hey, guys!” she said, picking a spot beside Angelica after she had set her bags down. “Thanks for having me over.”

“Hey, Mar,” Peggy started, winding a ball of ribbon between her fingers. “Eliza spent an hour picking out clothes because she-”

Eliza slapped her hand over Peggy’s mouth, cutting her off before she could finish that sentence. Maria raised an eyebrow slightly, but didn’t comment.

Eliza laughed carefully. “Pegs, where did you put the tape?” she asked, glaring slightly at her sister. Peggy flopped backward, grabbing it off the floor before sitting up again.

“Here you go,” she smirked, winking at her sister. Eliza ignored her, taking a seat beside Maria and pulling a few boxes out of the bags by her side.

Angelica poured the wine Maria had brought, and the four of them made small talk for awhile. Eliza tried not to get flustered as she sat beside Maria while her sisters shot winks and waggled their eyebrows in her direction.

Angelica stood up after about an hour. “We’re going to wrap presents for you two in my room, she announced, pulling Peggy up from her spot on the floor. “We’ll be back.”

Eliza whipped around. “You guys can stay here,” she said, trying to keep her tone casual when in reality she was pleading with her sister, giving her the best puppy-dog eyes she could manage. “We won’t look.”

Angelica shook her head, grinning. “Can’t take any chances,” she mused, picking up a roll of silver-striped paper and a bundle of green ribbon. “See you in a bit.”

She strode out of the room, Peggy skipping joyfully behind her, and Eliza turned back to Maria before glancing back down at the paper in her hands.

They wrapped in silence for a few minutes, the only sounds being the sharp slice of scissors on paper and the snap of tape against the roll as they tore pieces off. The small stack of gifts beside them grew as they added to the pile. Maria was the one to break the silence.

“So, she started, her gaze focused on the ribbon ends the was curling between her fingers and the blade of the scissors. “What was Peggy saying about you picking out an outfit for an hour?”

Eliza, who had just taken a sip of her wine, almost choked. “Oh, um,” she stuttered, placing her glass down on the table. “It was nothing, really.”

Maria looked up at her, pausing in her ribbon curling. “Well,” she said quietly, looking at Eliza’s outfit. “You look really nice.”

Eliza felt herself blush at that, her mind going blank once again. “Th- Thanks,” she managed, smiling. “You do, too. I mean, you always look good. Really good.”

The other woman looked back down at her wrapping paper, and Eliza swore she saw a light blush cross her features. “Thanks.”

They went back to wrapping gifts again, showing each other a particularly good find and discussing what they’d been doing since the last time they had talked. Of course, they had been texting a lot, but that didn’t cover everything.

“Can I give you your Christmas present now?” Maria asked suddenly, pausing in the middle of taping another box, this one for Peggy.

“Yeah, sure,” Eliza answered, putting down her own box.

Maria pushed her stuff to the side, scooting closer to Eliza. She wasn’t holding anything in her hands, and Eliza looked at her.

“Is it a physical object, or…” Eliza asked, looking questioningly at Maria.

Maria shifted closer. “Kind of,” she said, and leaned forward.

Before Eliza could process the situation, Maria’s lips were on hers, soft and careful, and she sat completely still.

_What?_

At the last second, she closed her eyes, kissing back, and then Maria was gone.

“I’m sorry, I read this wrong, didn’t I?” Maria said quickly, moving away. “I’m so sorry, I thought…”

“No, no, don’t apologize, it’s fine,” Eliza breathed, finally able to speak. “I - I- wow.”

Maria smiled, blinking slowly. “So that’s okay then?”

Eliza moved closer. “That’s more than okay.”

When Angelica and Peggy walked back into the room, a few boxes in their hands, Eliza and Maria were still sitting on the floor, wrapping the last of their presents, looking as if nothing had changed. But they had shifted slightly closer to each other, and Maria’s lipstick had ended up on the corner of Eliza’s mouth.

After they had finished, stacks of beautifully wrapped gifts piled carefully on the table and bits of ribbon scattered across the floor, Eliza walked Maria to the door.

“So, do you want to go on an actual date sometime?” Maria asked, somewhat shyly.

Eliza beamed. “Of course,” she replied. “Text me?”

Maria nodded, smiling brightly, and Eliza took the chance to press a chaste kiss to her cheek.

“I’ll see you on Sunday right?” Maria said softly, blushing again.

“Yeah.”

Eliza watched her walk out, down the street with her bag of wrapped presents, turning once more to wave before she turned the corner.

Eliza closed the door, closing her eyes as she grinned and pressed her back against the heavy wood. She was vaguely aware of the joyful shrieks of her sisters, but her thoughts were centered on a girl in red, who she was going to have an actual date with. Damn, she was lucky.

Sometimes things worked out in the end, after all.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Once again, I'm really sorry for the super ultra late update. And I didn't get two done today, but that's okay and I'll likely have time tomorrow.


	23. Secret Santa

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Childish cuteness.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Wow, okay. I'm behind. (backdating is helpful)
> 
> I got home late yesterday, and I was going to write two, but obviously, that didn't happen. This one is shorter than the rest, but I think it ends in the right place.

The sun peeked slowly over the tops of the tall buildings, bright golden light breaking through the clouds. It would probably snow later; dense, heavy flakes that would accumulate on the sidewalks and in the streets and on the branches of the bare trees. A cold wind blew outside the apartment, and Eliza was glad that she had stayed inside.

She had made herself tea that morning, peppermint, in the large ceramic teapot that Peggy had given her for her birthday, and she was on her second mug of the steaming drink.

Saturday. Finally, school was over. Eliza loved her class, she really did, but she needed a break after a while. 

However, Friday had been one of the best days since the start of the year. The room was decorated with all the glitter-covered snowflakes that her students had made back at the beginning of the month, as well as several paper chains that a few of them had worked on during recess the week before; she had run out of construction paper in two days. A small Christmas tree stood by the windows, decorated with clear plastic ornaments that were filled with more glitter, small toys, and other random things that her students had decided they wanted to put inside.

 

They’d had a little party that day, the last day of school before winter break, and there had been a lot of off-key singing, cartoon movie watching, and way more candy than any first grader needed to have at any given time. That was partly Eliza’s fault; she had told them to bring in anything they wanted to share, and had brought in several boxes of candy canes herself, figuring that it was better than leaving them all for her sister to eat.

Her kids were the sweetest; first graders were kind to each other, for the most part, and they were especially nice around the holidays. 

But Eliza’s favorite part of the holidays in her classroom was the Secret Santa.

Every year since she had started teaching, she’d had her students write a short list of things they liked. Then, she’d written each of their names on pieces of paper and put them into a box before going around them room and letting each of the kids choose a name. She gave them the list of the person who they got, and they each got to buy a small gift for their Secret Santa.

This year, they’d brought some of the best gifts she’d ever seen.

It didn’t matter if they talked to the person who they have a gift to; every single kid went all-out with their present, taking great care to pick something they they thought the person would like. And every single present looked as if small hands had wrapped it; crookedly cut lines, large pieces of tape, and childish script denoting the recipient of the gift.

They had taken turns opening the gifts in class, between eating exorbitant amounts of chocolate and candy canes, and the look on each kid’s face made Eliza remember why she loved teaching so much.

There were bags of favorite candies, assortments of small toys, stuffed animals, hand-drawn cards that went along with some gifts. One of the boys, Matt, had picked Lacey’s name from the box, and he had gotten her a water bottle decorated with dog stickers, since she loved them so much; Isabella had given a painting set to Lanie, one of the more artistic girls in the class; and Sam had gotten a set of toy cars for Max, apologizing for losing Max’s favorite one back in October.

And Susan- Eliza smiled when she saw her; she looked so much like Maria that it almost hurt to look at her every day- Susan had gotten one of the shyest boys in the class, the complete opposite of the energetic, outgoing little girl. The boy, James, liked to doodle in his notebooks, and had written that he liked turtles and that he liked to draw on his list. So Susan had brought him a drawing pad and a set of colored pencils, along with a stuffed turtle.

When he opened the gift, the biggest smile had spread across his face as he stared in wonder at the colors and paper. He had hugged the turtle to his chest immediately, still grinning. Once he discovered who had given it to him, he had given the girl a hug, which was the most outgoing thing Eliza had seen him do all year.

Kids were the best.

They had spent the entire day having fun, mostly singing songs and watching movies and talking about everyone’s plans for the two weeks of break. Some of the kids were going out of town to visit family, others were taking longer vacations, and some were just staying home. She asked each of them what they wanted for Christmas, what they hoped Santa would bring them, and got a huge variety of answers that ranged from a soccer ball and video games to books and candy.

By the end of the day, her desk had been covered in a small stack of gifts of her own, given to her by various students. Homemade cookies, cards, drawings, a beautifully painted mug, chocolate, and a pen. And Eliza loved it all. 

Her class surprised her at the end, making sure that they cleaned up all their trash and wrappers from the day and making it so she didn’t have to stay an extra hour just to clean up. On their way out, most of them had given her hugs and wished her happy holidays, and she smiled for an hour after that. She packed up everything, mentally checking that she wouldn’t forget anything at her desk over the two weeks, and took one last look at her festive classroom before she closed the door.

Two weeks. She would miss it, but it wasn’t that long.


End file.
